


Shouyou the Sun Child

by PB_and_Jelly



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Awkward Dancing, Divine spirits and their kids, Everyone is on a first-name basis, Everyone's fav is Keiji, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Kei is a savage, M/M, Minor Original Character(s), Precious children everywhere, Shouyou can teach??, Slow Burn, They still play volleyball, They're like gods but not really, Tobio is so tsun~, a WHOLE lot of confused feelings, and awkward confessions, bc volleyball doRKS, so many background ships, what even is this AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-30 17:05:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 43,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6432931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PB_and_Jelly/pseuds/PB_and_Jelly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shouyou didn’t see anyone. He glanced down and, to his upmost surprise, a little fire spirit was drifting in front of his door. It didn’t have a face, or legs, just basically a flame with an upper body of swirling fire. It carried a large satchel and the bag looked like it was close to bursting with the amount of letters inside. The spirit showed extreme impatience as it shoved a letter out at Shouyou’s face.</p><p>(In which Shouyou, one of Sun's children, is desperate for love, and the divine spirits have a party.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm honestly completely baffled as to where I got the idea for this story. Nevertheless, I hope you have fun reading. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Shouyou was bored. Shouyou was always bored. There was never anything to do around the place and all his siblings were off attending to their own businesses. The white walls around him were drab and dull and all he wanted was someone to talk to. Maybe he should get a hobby. Play cards or pool or something.

 

He summoned a small fire from his fingertip, watching it swirl and dance. Smoke curled out from the top of it. He blew at it, shaping it into a dragon. At least, it was supposed to be a dragon, but Shouyou was never any good at drawing. It looked as depressed as he felt.

 

He sighed deeply and waved his hands through the smoke. He grabbed a new ball of flame from midair and tossed it up and down. Warmth radiated off of it, coating Shouyou’s body with heat every time he caught it, but taken away again as he threw it back up. It was going to be a long evening.

           

A pattering of footsteps could be heard approaching his room and Shouyou perked up from his slumped position. The door next to Shouyou was opened timidly and a head peeked through.

 

“Hey Shouyou.”

 

“Oh, Tadashi! Nice timing!”

 

Tadashi stepped into Shouyou’s room and sat himself down. He gave Shouyou a curious look.

 

“What have you been doing?”

 

“I’ve been bored out of my mind.” Shouyou pouted aggressively. He threw the ball of fire a final time and it vanished as quickly as he had summoned it.

 

“Well, I’ve got some important news that dad wanted me to tell everyone.”

 

“Hah, that’s gonna take some time, there’s a couple billion trillion of us.” Shouyou teased good-humoredly.

 

“That’s why I gotta get going, can’t stay to chat.”

 

“So what’s the news?”

 

“Dad’s hosting a giant party with some of his friends, y’know the other divine spirits, and we’re required to go ‘make acquaintances’.”

 

“What, really??” Shouyou grinned widely, “when?”

 

“Soon. You’ll get a letter with all the details later.”

 

“Wait. If there’s gonna be a letter, why bother coming yourself to tell us?”

 

“That’s what I told dad! He made me.”

 

“Still daddy’s favorite, I guess.” Shouyou laughed breezily.

 

“He always picks me to do things ‘cause he’s too lazy.”

 

“So, who’s gonna be there? At the party.”

 

“The divine spirits and all their kids, probably.”

 

“Oh man, that’s gonna be a whole lot of people.”

 

Tadashi nodded and made to stand up, “Hey, I’ve got an idea.” He patted down his pants.

 

“Hm? What is it?” Shouyou responded, only partly paying attention. He was staring up at his plain, white ceiling. He could already imagine the chaos and fuss that would be at the party and he buzzed with excitement. It’d been too long since the last one, probably a few thousand years. It had been a night of wild irresponsibility and Shouyou thought it was prime time to experience it once again. From his limited knowledge, the divine spirits were working as hard as ever, and he deemed it time to give them a break too (even if he had hidden intentions). The smile on his face was dreamy.

 

“If you’re so bored here, do you want to help me deliver the message?”

 

“Nuh uh, no way, nope. I’m not gonna get roped into doing work.”

 

“You’re doing literally nothing right now. You were throwing a ball up and down when I came in, and you had this face like my walking in was saving you from depression. I’m basically your savior from crippling boredom.”

 

Shouyou rolled his eyes but stood up anyways. “You don’t have to exaggerate so much.”

 

“No, I don’t have to since it’s the truth after all.” Tadashi teased, a wide smile on his face that betrayed his sarcastic jesting. Shouyou punched his arm.

 

They both exited Shouyou’s room into a long hallway. The dull brown carpet underneath their feet matched the darkening beige of the smooth walls. Torches placed between each door shone a dim glow, almost as if they had lost the motivation to do their job of keeping things well lit. Well, it’s not like they needed it. Shouyou held his hand out and an orange light sprouted from his palm.

 

Shouyou looked down the hallway, watching it diminish into a dark dot in the distance. The hallway never truly stopped expanding. Doors popped up every second, a sign that a new child had appeared.

 

Sometimes the door didn’t last more than a few minutes.

 

They walked in silence down the hallway for a minute or two before Shouyou spoke up.

 

“So~” Shouyou grinned mischievously up at his brother, “how are things with Kei?”

 

Although the hallway was dim it couldn’t hide the bright red that was suddenly splayed across Tadashi’s freckled cheeks. Shouyou laughed at his tenseness and slapped Tadashi’s back. He stumbled forward from the impact but still refused to look at Shouyou’s smug face.

 

“You still get so flustered when anyone talks about him with you. I don’t even wanna _imagine_ what it’s like when you’re alone with him. I bet you’re a blushing mess.”

 

Tadashi took a few moments to calm himself down.

 

“So how are things, anyway?” Shouyou repeated, genuinely curious.

 

“We’re doing pretty well.”

 

“Hmm, have you been keeping your star lit up?”

 

“Of course I have, it’s like the only thing I do these days. Probably the main reason why dad’s making me go out and tell everyone about his party.”

 

“Is it fun? Don’t you have to keep polishing it and stuff?”

 

“Of course it’s fun. Kei went to the trouble of getting me one, and I want to express my love in return. It really isn’t as bad as you think it is.”

 

“Ah, man” Shouyou looked forward dreamily, his hands clasped behind his back, “I wish I had someone to gift me a star. Must be nice.”

 

“Yeah,” Tadashi smiled, “it is.”

 

“Do you think someone will ever love me enough to do that for me?”

 

“Of course, Shouyou! I’ll talk to Love myself if I have to. He’ll set you up with someone nice.”

 

“I don’t want anyone to set me up. I want it to be fate!”

 

“Sorry, Shouyou, but Fate’s already married.”

 

“You know what I mean, jeez!” Shouyou shoved a laughing Tadashi to the side, starting to crack a smile of his own. “Where are we even going?”

 

“Natsu’s place.”

 

“Ah, I see her door. C’mon, hurry up!” Shouyou sprinted the rest of the way to the door marked ‘Natsu lives HERE’, written in her orange-grey handwriting. From a distance, it just looked like the door had some weird scorch marks. Shouyou put his fingers on his sister’s messy handwriting. The colors shimmered and moved, a hint of the galaxy beyond. It triggered a memory in Shouyou and he groaned inwardly.

 

“I honestly can’t believe that she already got a star. She’s so young! How is this fair at all?” Shouyou pouted as he waited for Tadashi to catch up.

 

“She’s just too adorable to leave alone. Plus, she’s already a few million years old.” Tadashi chuckled, “I think she makes a good pair with Fire’s son.”

 

“Excuse you! _I’m_ adorable as well, but I don’t see anyone doing sweet things for me!”

 

“Calm down.” Tadashi laughed. “I’m gonna open the door now.”

 

He turned the knob and stepped in with Hinata mumbling ‘so young, so young’ in disbelief behind him.

 

“Hello? Natsu?”

 

A ball of light in the middle of the room caught Shouyou’s attention first. It sat innocently on a stand, placed carefully in the center of a coffee table. Shouyou pouted even harder, recognizing this ball to be the star that was gifted to Natsu.

 

He glanced around the room in awe next. Splayed across the walls were tiny dots of other stars that were close to Natsu’s own. They sat among the dark expanse of the universe. Some didn’t burn quite as bright as others, still waiting for an owner to come and claim them and make them shine at their full potential.

 

The view was from Natsu’s own star, currently floating in space. It offered a complete view of its surroundings, spread out among the four walls of Natsu’s room. It was almost like the star in the middle of the room was projecting everything it could see onto the walls (that used to be just as dull as Shouyou’s). The room was barely furnished, allowing for an impressive view. Shouyou daydreamed about what it would feel like to drift in space.

 

“Natsu? You here?”

 

Natsu’s own little additions could be seen amid the dark galaxy. Shouyou spied her small handprints on one wall, and there was what seemed like a poorly drawn phoenix in the far corner. Her color was everywhere.

 

Shouyou had expected the room to be quite dark, but the presence of a small chandelier and multiple lamps lit up the room pretty well. Shouyou crossed his arms, finding it ridiculous to have a _chandelier_ in a child’s personal room.

 

Two doors led into separate rooms, presumably an entertainment room and a bedroom. Being the little selfish brat she was, she even requested a set of stairs to a second floor. A window was placed on the staircase landing and, from what Shouyou could see, a vast green landscape extended into the horizon.

 

“Maybe she’s upstairs?” Shouyou suggested, stepping further into the room. He wanted to see the star up close. While he was effectively distracted by its attractive glow, he didn’t hear the footsteps that were descending the stairs.

 

“HI!” Shouyou could barely look up before his little sister jumped onto him, clutching onto his shirt and hugging tightly.

 

“Woah, woah!” Shouyou stumbled a bit before he regained his balance and looked properly at Natsu, “why are you so excited?”

 

“You guys never visit me! But now you’re finally here! Is there some kind of special occasion?”

 

“Yeah there is.” Tadashi plucked her from Shouyou easily and let her down, kneeling down to match her height.

 

“There’s a party at dad’s place soon and you’re invited!” Tadashi smiled warmly.

 

“Really?” Natsu (unsurprisingly) had the same reaction as Shouyou. Her eyes lit up with excitement and she suppressed a squeal.

 

“There’s going to be a letter sent to you and it’ll tell you all the details.” Tadashi patted her head, “So just make sure not to ignore it.”

 

“I don’t ignore my letters!”

 

“Don’t deny it. You burn almost all of them as soon as you see them.” Shouyou piped up.

 

“Unless, of course, they’re from Fire’s son.” Tadashi grinned mischievously.

 

“You’re no better, you love-sick fool!” Natsu slapped his hand away and crossed her arms defiantly.

 

“OHHHH!” Shouyou yelled, obviously enjoying his sister's defiant behaviour. Tadashi, still kneeling on the floor, gaped at his sister with shock and a little bit of pride. Shouyou howled with laughter.

 

“A-anyways!” Tadashi spluttered, shooting Shouyou (who was now rolling on the floor) a glare, “just make sure you’re there!”

 

“Yeah, I’ll be there. And I’m gonna prove that my boyfriend is better than yours.” The need for a challenge burned in the depths of Natsu’s orange eyes.

 

“Since when did this become a competition?” Tadashi sighed, truly exasperated. Shouyou was clutching his stomach tightly, still laughing crazily.

 

“Shouyou! It wasn’t that funny! Let’s go.” Tadashi dragged his brother up and waved his goodbyes to Natsu. She waved happily back, the laughter from Shouyou warding off her sulky mood.

 

“I’ll see you both there!”

 

Tadashi pulled the door shut. Shouyou was still giggling.

 

“You’re hopeless, you know that?”

 

“Yeah, I know.” Shouyou grinned broadly.

 

“C’mon, we still have lots of stops to make. Let’s go.”

 

* * *

 

Someone was rapidly knocking on Shouyou’s door but Shouyou had no incentive to get up and answer it. He was laying on his back, watching two of his best fire knights battle it out on his conjured stage. As it often was with these kinds of games, one of the knights eventually won only because of Shouyou’s blatant favoritism. The less fortunate one lay in a heap of blazing swords and armor. The victor grabbed a fire flag that Shouyou had just summoned and raised it high into the air. Shouyou clapped and cheered, fulfilling his role as the audience.

 

The knocking was getting louder.

 

“What?” Shouyou groaned as he stood up. He walked out of his bedroom and into the dull, undecorated living room. He yanked the door open, ready to yell at the person who was disturbing his very busy afternoon.

 

Shouyou didn’t see anyone. He glanced down and, to his upmost surprise, a little fire spirit was drifting in front of his door. It didn’t have a face, or legs, just basically a flame with an upper body of swirling fire. It carried a large satchel and the bag looked like it was close to bursting with the amount of letters inside. The spirit showed extreme impatience as it shoved a letter out at Shouyou’s face.

 

“Oh, uh, thanks. You from dad?” Shouyou took the letter as the spirit nodded. It pointed down the hallway and Shouyou leaned over the doorframe to see what it was gesturing at. Lined down the hallway, stopped at every door, there were identical spirits with identical bulging bags.

 

“I thought so.” Shouyou mused, a smile finding its way onto his face, “For the party, huh?”

 

The spirit nodded once again and waved goodbye, already starting to drift down to the next door.

 

“Thanks for your hard work!” Shouyou called after it and closed the door. He hastily tore open the letter, eager to know all about the up-coming party. It read:

 

_Hello Shouyou! You have been formally invited to your old man’s party. I really want you to be there, I have someone I want to introduce to you! You better make sure you’re there to enjoy the festivities, too. It’s going to be amazing and I know you’ll love it._

_It’ll be held at my place, in the large ballroom. Dress to impress!!! I know you’re still depressed that you can’t get anyone to give you a star, so I’ve invited EVERYONE I know. I’ve basically increased your chances by 1000%. Haha once you get a date, it’s creds to me._

_Anyway! It’ll be held in four days from when you receive this letter. Remember: the point of this party is to get you somebody to love (and also for my self-indulgence), so meet and chat with as many people as you like! Of course, I’m also setting up your siblings with lots of people as well ;D_

_Wishing you the best of luck,_

_Sun_

Hinata crushed the letter in his hand.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm shooting for weekly updates since school is a real pain and slows my progress by a ton. I hope you'll stay until the end :D For now, please enjoy!

Shouyou straightened his bowtie for the umpteenth time, feeling a little nervous as he stood in front of the big set of doors. He breathed in and out deeply. This was it. The day he would meet the one. Hopefully.

 

He pushed the doors open.

 

“Oh…my…” Shouyou gawked at the massive room displayed in front of him. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling in a straight line that seemed to continue on forever. The room itself seemed never-ending. Flanking both his right and left were long buffet tables, covered with a type of sturdy satin cloth, filled to the brim with all kinds of food. Shouyou couldn’t see anyone refilling the dishes; it just appeared whenever it began to diminish.

 

The checkered floor beneath his feet shone like marble and the walls were ricocheting the light, bouncing the very atmosphere around. Music filled the room, as did crowds of bustling people, laughing and chatting. Shouyou bristled with excitement, feeling it in his very bones. He couldn’t stop a grin from forming.

 

“Hey, Shouyou!” Shouyou turned his head towards the voice and saw Tadashi waving delightedly.

 

“Wow, you’re already here?” Shouyou jogged over.

 

“You know how I love being punctual.” Tadashi smiled.

 

“So you got Dad’s letter?”

 

“If you mean the rather annoying and provoking scrap of paper, then yeah. I got it.”

 

“You too, huh?” Shouyou laughed. “I can’t believe he actually wrote personal messages out to everyone.”

 

“Well, he’s always been a good party host.” Tadashi looked at the view in front of him, “And I must say, I missed this place.”

 

“Yeah, I know right? It’s been quite a while.” Shouyou nodded, “He changed the look again, though. It really surprised me.”

 

“Well he wasn’t going to keep the last place after it was thoroughly trashed.” The two of them laughed pleasantly.

 

“Tadashi.”

 

“Ah! Kei!” Tadashi whipped around to see Kei carrying two flutes of bubbling champagne.

 

“Oh~” Shouyou peeked around Tadashi to get a full view, “am I interrupting?”

 

“Actually,” Kei stared indifferently at Shouyou, “you are.”

 

“Kei!”

 

“Damn, so cold.” Shouyou grinned anyways, knowing that Kei wasn’t like this on purpose. After all, having Blizzard as a dad wasn’t going to warm him up anytime soon.

 

“Don’t be mean, Kei.”

 

“What? I just want us to be alone.”

 

“Wha-“ Tadashi’s face flushed immediately, “Don’t say things like that, either!”

 

Shouyou put a firm hand on his brother’s shoulder, “Good luck, stay strong, be safe.”

 

“Sh-Shouyou!” Shouyou laughed cheerfully and walked away, throwing a wave behind his shoulder. He looked back once he was a sufficient distance away and saw that the two were conversing casually. Tadashi also glanced his way and Shouyou gave a confident thumbs-up.

 

“Shouyou! You made it!” Shouyou was about to flash a peace sign at Tadashi before he was interrupted by a deep, familiar voice.

 

“Dad!” Shouyou skipped over to his father, who was accompanied by two other figures.

 

“I’m glad you came, Shouyou! Are you enjoying yourself?”

 

“I just got here, actually.”

 

“Well, I hope you have lots of fun today. Anyway, I wanted to introduce these two to you.”

 

Shouyou turned to finally get a proper look at the two men. They were both tall, intimidatingly so. One was wearing a black suit, paired with a contrasting white tie. He was quite attractive and Shouyou guessed he was around his dad’s age. They must be good friends.

 

He turned to the other, shorter man. Well he thought he was an adult, but after a full inspection, Shouyou guessed he was actually around his own age. Shouyou felt a trail of goosebumps spread down his arms. This person’s icy glare could rival Kei’s.

 

He was wearing an outfit similar to the other man’s. However, the color that jumped out were the blue of his eyes. Everything else was completely black, like his dark, silky hair. He was irritatingly pleasant to look at.

 

“Hi, I’m Shouyou. I’m one of Sun’s children.” Shouyou stuck his hand out to the older-looking one, thinking it only polite that he addressed his elders first.

 

“I’ve heard plenty about you, Shouyou! You look like a promising young man.” The other shook his hand firmly and his calming voice soothed Shouyou’s nerves. “I’m Tragedy, one of your dad’s friends, and a divine spirit.”

 

“Nice to meet you, sir!” Shouyou beamed brightly, freaking out a little bit on the inside because _I just met a divine spirit and this is such an honor what do I do???_

Tragedy nudged the person next to him, gesturing with his head to introduce himself.

 

“I’m Tobio.” The person said gruffly and stuck a reluctant hand out, “Tragedy’s only son.”

 

“Nice to meet you too, Tobio.” Shouyou’s grin faltered a little bit as the boy opposite him glared intensely straight through him.

 

“Right then! Now that you boys are acquainted, let’s get down to business!” Sun clapped Shouyou and Tobio on the back.

 

“Huh? What do you mean?” Shouyou glanced curiously up at his dad.

 

“I actually did call you here for a reason, Shouyou.” Sun smiled warmly. “I need you to help Tobio out a little bit.”

 

“With what?” Shouyou’s eyes flashed with excitement and purpose.

 

“I told you, dad.” Tobio faced Tragedy, “I don’t need the help. I’m fine by myself.”

 

Shouyou frowned. Had he said something wrong?

 

“Look, Tobio,” Tragedy sighed like they had gone through this conversation many times before, “I’m just worried because you’re already quite old and you’re still having a bit of trouble. Plus, I’m sure you could do with the extra company.”

 

“I don’t need anyone.” Tobio repeated. Shouyou looked at his dad as Sun also sighed.

 

“Can someone please explain?” Shouyou asked.

 

“Well, Shouyou,” Sun started, “I was telling Tragedy some time ago about your brilliant skills with commanding fire and then he mentioned how his son was still struggling with controlling his own power. I thought that maybe I could get you to tutor him a little. After all, the concept of using our powers is along the same lines.”

 

“You want me…to tutor him?” Shouyou repeated.

 

“Give him a few pointers and stuff, yeah.” Tragedy piped up. “Is it too much of a bother?”

 

“No, of course not! I’d be really happy to help!” Shouyou said enthusiastically. He heard Tobio click his tongue, clearly annoyed, but Shouyou tried not to be unnerved.

 

“Really?” Tragedy grabbed Shouyou’s hands and grinned broadly, “Thank you so much! I really appreciate it! I’m sure you’ll do a great job.”

 

“Eh, uh,” Shouyou flushed from the praise, “You’re welcome!”

 

Tragedy let go of his hands, “So, on another note, I’ve heard that you’re looking for someone?”

 

“Eh? I am?”

 

“Sun told me all about it!” Tragedy laughed heartily, “Someone to give you a star, was it?”

 

“Dad!” Shouyou slapped his dad’s arm, unable to stop another blush from creeping up his neck, “Stop mentioning it!”

 

“Well, I bet you’re dying to get out there.” Sun offered his best fatherly smile, “Go on and enjoy the party. This tutor business can come later, I just wanted to let you know about it.”

 

“Okay.” Shouyou bowed to Tragedy, “It was a pleasure talking, sir. Enjoy the party.”

 

He turned to Tobio and bowed once more, “Nice to meet you, Tobio. Enjoy the party, too.”

 

When he raised his head Tobio was already walking off with a sullen attitude. Tragedy smiled apologetically before trailing after his son.

 

Shouyou waved goodbye to his dad and set off into the crowd of partygoers.

 

He had barely been wandering for five minutes at the buffet table, picking up lots of delicious food, before he crashed, quite literally, into somebody else. He was staring at the trays of assorted meats while walking when suddenly he collided painfully with someone and had fallen backwards unceremoniously. Right before he went down, he heard a tiny squeal. _Squeal?_

 

Shouyou jumped to his feet immediately, “Are you alright??”

 

In front of him lay a petite girl in a white, shimmering dress who was beginning to sit up. She rubbed the back of her head and winced slightly. Her smooth, blond hair rested above her bare shoulders, courtesy of the strapless dress. Her skin glowed a subtle pink as she flushed, acknowledging the embarrassing moment of bumping into a complete stranger.

 

“I’m so sorry!” Shouyou held out a hand to help her up. “I wasn’t looking where I was going. Are you okay?”

 

She grabbed his hand and Shouyou pulled her up. The girl smoothed down her dress quickly and then bowed lightly, “I’m very sorry!”

 

“No, no, no, however you look at it, it was my fault!” Shouyou shook his head and gestured wildly with his hands, “Are you alright, though?”

 

“Yes, I’m fine.” The girl straightened up, “And what about you?”

 

“I’m alright, perfectly fine.” Shouyou laughed nervously. The girl smiled sweetly and held her hand out.

 

“My name’s Hope.”

 

Shouyou tensed.

 

“I can’t believe I just knocked over a _divine spirit,_ somebody kill me.” Shouyou’s words were out of his mouth before he had thought it over. Hope giggled into her hand. Her calming gaze told Shouyou that there wasn’t anything to worry about.

 

“Oh, by the way, here’s your food.” Hope unexpectedly said and grabbed a plate that was suspended in air, handing it to Shouyou. He gaped. Throughout that whole ordeal, Shouyou realized, _no food had been spilt._ Why didn’t he notice this sooner?

 

“Wh-wha-“ Shouyou took his plate carefully, half-expecting it to disappear like an illusion. Hope picked up another plate, presumably her own, that had been floating off to the side.

 

“It would be a shame if our clothes had gotten dirty, don’t you think?” Hope flashed a smile, “That’s what went through my mind as I fell.”

 

“Uh…really?”

 

“Sorry!” Hope reflected on her words, “That sounded really materialistic of me.”

 

“No, no, it’s okay.” Shouyou reassured her, “But how did you do that, anyway?”

 

“It’s my power.” Hope said, almost a little shyly, “I wish for things, hope for good outcomes. In this case, I didn’t want the plates to fall on us or have it break. However, the way these hopes are carried out isn’t in my power. For all I know, the plates could’ve vanished completely, or been swooped away by a gust of wind or something. Anything is possible. Thank goodness they were only suspended in air.” She breathed a sigh of relief.

 

Shouyou’s eyes shined with curiosity and astonishment, “That’s so cool, Hope! That’s amazing!”

 

Hope looked a little surprised at Shouyou’s outburst but smiled charmingly at his endearing wonder, “Call me Hitoka, please.”

 

“Hitoka, you’re amazing!” Shouyou’s plate was in danger of spilling from his excited shaking. Even Hope’s regular name was as adorable as she was. Hitoka grinned, her face blushing in an attractive light pink.

 

“I never caught your name.” She said.

 

“Oh, sorry. That was really rude of me.” Shouyou bowed lightly, “I’m Shouyou.”

 

“Shouyou? My, what a cute name.” Hitoka giggled, “And? Whose son are you?”

 

“I’m one of Sun’s many children.” Shouyou straightened up.

 

“Oh really? I haven’t had a good talk with your father for ages!” Hitoka grabbed Shouyou’s arm lightly and shook it excitedly, “Have you seen him? I’d love to do some catching up!”

 

Shouyou laughed at her sudden burst of energy, “Yeah, he’s somewhere around here. I was actually talking to him a few minutes ago, over there.” He pointed in the general direction from which he came.

 

“Actually…” Hitoka looked around the place, looking for something, “I’m still trying to find my wife. That’s why I was in such a big hurry when I bumped into you.”

 

She held up the plate in her hands, “I got this for her, but it’s going to get cold soon.”

 

“Don’t worry about that.” Shouyou held his hand over the food and, after a few seconds, the arrangement of vegetables and meat were steaming again. The soft glow from his palm vanished with a wave. “Being one of Sun’s children has its perks.”

 

“Wow, thank you, Shouyou.” Hitoka grinned. She was about to say more when Shouyou realized that she was suddenly focused on something behind him. He spun around as Hitoka waved and called out.

 

“Kiyoko! I’m over here!” She had to step around Shouyou so the other woman could see her small frame.

 

Her dark hair swayed slightly as she turned in their direction. The gold glitter at the bottom of the dress shined brilliantly as the woman walked towards Shouyou.

 

“That-“ Shouyou looked at Hitoka and then back at the approaching lady in disbelief, “That’s Fate, isn’t it?!”

 

“Huh?” Hitoka looked up at him, “Do you know each other?”

 

“Yeah, we’ve met before. I doubt she remembers me, though.”

 

“Kiyoko has an amazing memory.” Hitoka smiled proudly and held out her hand for her wife, “Of course she’ll remember you.”

 

The first thing that Kiyoko said once she had reached them was, “Shouyou…was it?”

 

Shouyou audibly _squawked._ Fate gave Hitoka a kiss on the head as a greeting.

“See? I told you, Shouyou.” Hitoka giggled and handed her plate to her wife.

 

“It’s been a while, Fate.” Shouyou recovered relatively quickly.

 

“I’m glad we could meet again. It’s been a few thousand years since the last party.” Kiyoko smiled, “So I see you’ve gotten acquainted with my lovely wife?”

 

Hitoka blushed (again) and smiled like all her troubles had disappeared.

 

“I heard you got married, actually, in the time we haven’t seen each other.” Shouyou said, wanting to seem like he kept up with the current gossip, “I was meaning to find out to whom.”

 

“Isn’t she adorable?” Fate patted Hitoka’s back fondly. Meanwhile, the other woman looked about ready to melt into the floor. “I get to show her off all day today.”

 

“Ahh, that must be nice.” Shouyou sighed dreamily, “I’m jealous.” Fate quirked an eyebrow, a smile tugging on her lips.

 

She reached a hand out and dropped it on Shouyou’s shoulders lightly. Shouyou flushed at the contact and gave her a very confused expression. Her eyes widened a little, as though she had heard about a fascinating secret, and it took her a large amount of sheer willpower to suppress a laugh. Shouyou’s ears were going red.

 

“Don’t worry Shouyou,” Fate said with a tone of finality and let go of his shoulder. She hooked it gently around Hitoka’s waist, “You won’t be jealous much longer.”

 

Hitoka waved at Shouyou, seeing that Fate was about to depart, “Bye Shouyou. Have fun.”

 

Shouyou watched the two women disappear into the crowd and distinctly heard Hitoka proclaim:

 

“…and then we crashed and went flying backwards and then…”

 

Shouyou tilted his head, puzzled. What had Fate been talking about?

 

He looked down at the plate in his hands and frowned at the lukewarm food sitting in the center. He heated it up again.


	3. Chapter 3

Shouyou wandered aimlessly around the party, occasionally exchanging a few remarks with passing acquaintances and sipping his champagne. He’d already seen a hundred or so of his own family. Sometimes the conversations only lasted ten seconds and other times it was just a brief nod or a subtle wave. A lot of his siblings didn’t even make it to the party.

 

Shouyou put his empty glass of champagne on the buffet table. He would never admit it to himself, never in a few billion years, but it was painfully obvious to everyone around him (if his slight stumbling after two drinks was any indication). Shouyou was a lightweight. However, that didn’t stop him from walking towards the drinks area and grabbing another glass. This time it was red wine, an exquisite one straight from his dad’s prized collection. He briefly thought about chugging it in one gulp until he came to his senses and took a few experimental sips.

 

He spied the top of a familiar blond head peeking up above everyone else, perhaps a few meters in front of him. He was almost about to call out to his brother’s unfriendly boyfriend before everything around him went dark. Shouyou blinked rapidly, just to make sure that he didn’t close his eyes on accident or something. Yep, definitely still awake…

 

Shouyou knew he wasn’t imaging it when he heard others around him start to react. Some ladies to the right of him yelped at the sudden darkness while a group of men could be heard _ooh_ ing and _ahh_ ing.

 

Shouyou tried to summon a small flame to light the place up a little bit. Much to his surprise, though, it wasn’t working. The darkness was overpowering him. Shouyou started panicking, thinking that maybe he had lost his powers (not like that’s possible). That was before his slow mind began to kick in. Shouyou almost laughed out loud at his realization.

 

Suddenly, without warning, bright flickers of light exploded close to the ceiling. Shouyou, and many other spectators, stared in awe as it slowly faded out, as if the darkness was eating it away, angry at the way its reign was interrupted. Swirls of white spun through the air in retaliation. At times, the light even drew pictures, captivating the audiences’ attention with detailed illustrations of all kinds of creatures. It was stunning.

 

It continued for a while before a message was spelled out, in sparkling white cursive, ‘ _Close your eyes’_.

 

Shouyou shut his eyes quickly, already knowing that he should be heeding this advice. His vision went from black to a flash of red. He could hear people around him groan as the lights were turned back on and the new brightness stung their eyes painfully. He bit his lip so a smirk wouldn’t show.

 

“Alright, you can open them now!” A loud voice called throughout the entire ballroom. Shouyou blinked his eyes open and was greeted by the previous view of the large room, with an addition of two people standing on a buffet table (as a stage) near him.

 

He nearly squealed in delight.

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, we hope you enjoyed the light show!” The two bowed with a flourish, their heads dipping down low. Everyone applauded briefly before going back to talking and laughing. The two figures shared a high-five and broad grins, stepping off the table in unison. Shouyou put his glass down quickly and rushed to meet them.

 

“Darkness! Light!” They turned around in surprise just in time to catch Shouyou flying towards them.

 

“Shouyou!” They both exclaimed.

 

“Guys, that was so cool! Amazing performance!” Shouyou looked at them with stars in his eyes.

 

“Ah man, you flatter us, it was nothing,” Light rubbed his nape, trying to hide his blush. Darkness gave Shouyou a big, fond slap on the back.

 

“Did you do what we told you to do last time?”

 

“Yeah, I closed by eyes and everything.” Shouyou giggled, unable to help himself. His two companions noticed his slightly pink cheeks.

 

“Are you…drunk?” Light gasped, a smile tickling at his lips.

 

“Of course not!” Shouyou waved a dismissive hand, “I bet I’m more sober than you right now, Light.”

 

“Shouyou, I’ve told you before. You have to call me Koutarou!”

 

“Yeah, and you gotta call me Tetsurou! How could you forget?”

 

“I knew that! I totally knew that.” Shouyou nodded his head, giving them a thumbs-up, “Just haven’t seen you guys in a while.”

 

“And by the way, I haven’t had a single drop of alcohol tonight.” Koutarou puffed his chest out proudly.

 

“Really? I thought everyone was wasted by now.”

 

Koutarou whispered behind his hand, _“It’s just you.”_

 

“Nah, this dude’s doing a special favor for his special someone.” Tetsurou wiggled his eyebrows at his best friend.

 

“Waahhh??” Shouyou slumped forward, “You too?”

 

“Hm? What do you mean?” Koutarou asked, the two of them giving the shorter one curious looks.

 

“Everyone’s been getting into relationships these days!” Shouyou complained. “I thought at least you two would be single with me.”

 

“Don’t worry! Tetsurou will be single with you forever.” Koutarou put a comforting hand on Shouyou’s shoulder.

 

“Oi!” Tetsurou glared at his best friend, “Just you wait, I’ll win him over one day.”

 

“He’s all talk.” Koutarou told Shouyou, “He won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.”

 

“Eh? Who’re you talking about, Tetsurou?” Shouyou questioned.

 

“Nobody…”

 

“Wow, I didn’t know your ears could go so red, bro.” Koutarou teased.

 

“Now I wanna know more!” Shouyou tugged on Koutarou’s arm, looking at him with a silent plea.

 

“Well, it can’t be helped.” Koutarou grinned at Tetsurou, “Could you possibly say no to this adorable orange blob?”

 

Tetsurou sighed deeply in resignation before giving the signal that Koutarou could be the one who told Shouyou.

 

“He’s chasing after our one and only…” Koutarou paused for effect, “starkeeper!”

 

Shouyou’s eyes widened considerably at that. He stared at Tetsurou in complete shock (and a little horror). His mouth dropped open and he could barely speak for a few seconds.

 

“It’s Kenma? Tetsurou, _you can’t_.” Shouyou finally said. His friend groaned and put his head in his hands.

 

“I know that!” Tetsurou’s annoyed reply was muffled, “but I can’t stop!”

 

“But Kenma can’t love! He’s not allowed to!”

 

“Yeah…I know that.” Tetsurou sighed again, putting his hands down, “What a stupid rule.”

 

“Hang in there, dude.” Koutarou put his arm around Tetsurou, “Didn’t you say you were going to make him fall hopelessly in love?”

 

“Yeah!” He seemed re-energized despite knowing the distressing truth, “I will! I’ll show you!”

 

“Bring it on, bro!”

 

The two were getting into a pretty intense staring (competitive glaring?) contest before Shouyou interrupted them.

 

“Um…Koutarou? You still haven’t told me who _you’re_ dating.”

 

“I haven’t? Oh! I haven’t!” Koutarou grinned excitedly, “Oh man, I’ve got to show you!”

 

Shouyou was about to ask him to elaborate when Koutarou suddenly sprinted off into the crowd. He tilted his head at Tetsurou.

 

“Just wait. His special someone is here tonight.” Tetsurou smiled mischievously, “I promise, you’re going to love this.”

 

“Hmmm,” Shouyou hummed as he waited, “Should I get another glass of wine?”

 

“No no no no.” Tetsurou grabbed Shouyou’s wrist before he could walk off.

 

Shouyou clicked his tongue, “Stingy.”

 

“Drunkard.”

 

“Lonely loser.”

 

“Hah, you too.”

 

Shouyou pouted, “This is unfair. At least you have someone you like! I don’t have anyone!”

 

“Trust me, dude, I’m in love with someone who’ll probably never love me back. I’m pretty sure I’ve got it worse.”

 

“Nobody’s going to choose me.” Shouyou said dejectedly, “I’m one out of literal billion trillions.”

 

Tetsurou chuckled, “I’m not sure I like the drunk you. You’re too open, even more so than your sober self.”

 

“Now _that’s_ saying something.” Shouyou nodded his head in agreement.

 

“You idiot, you’re supposed to retort.”

 

“You moron, you’re supposed to comfort me!”

 

“There, there.” Tetsurou patted Shouyou’s head, “There, there.”

 

“I’m not your pet.”

 

“No,” Tetsurou’s grin widened, “you’re more like my doormat.”

 

“Oh yeah? Well, you’re more like my toilet.”

 

“Really? You’re more like the shi-“

 

“HEY HEY HEY!!!”

 

Koutarou came running back at such a speed that Shouyou was seriously confused as to why nobody had been knocked over yet. Koutarou’s hand was clasped firmly in someone else’s.

 

“Meet my beloved Keiji!” Koutarou came to a stop in front of the two bickering halfwits and pulled another man forward.

 

Shouyou stared up in amazement. Despite their no-doubt speedy run, the man’s hair was still in stylish perfection. His grey suit matched his glistening, dark eyes and Shouyou’s eyes followed his slender fingers as he gave a small, dainty wave. His pink lips were turned up in a small smile.

 

“Hello, Darkness.”

 

“Yo, Keiji.”

 

“Uh…” Shouyou said intelligently. He was pretty sure that someone was gonna call the authorities soon to report his creepy behavior. However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the curve of this man’s jaw, the hint of a blush from their sprint, and the delicate arch of his nose. Shouyou wondered if this was what love felt like.

 

“You may know him as Beauty.” Tetsurou smirked. Oh. Well, that explained everything.

 

“N-nice to meet you, Beauty! I’m Shouyou!” He yelped, bowing low so he could hide his flushed face. He heard a barely audible chuckle.

 

“Please, call me Keiji.”

 

“Really?” Shouyou straightened and looked at Keiji uncertainly.

 

“Of course.” He gazed back with warm eyes, “And don’t worry about the staring. I get that reaction a lot when people meet me for the first time.”

 

“It’s just-“ Shouyou blurted out the first thing in his mind, “You’re so pretty!”

 

“I know right???” Koutarou gave Shouyou large smacks on the back, “You’ve got good eyes, Shouyou!”

 

Keiji rolled his eyes and looked at Koutarou with exasperation.

 

“But you know,” Koutarou sighed, “it gets pretty hard when everybody’s always hitting on him.”

 

“Ohhh,” Shouyou nodded in understanding, “I totally get what you mean.”

 

“Liar, you’ve never even dated once.” Koutarou laughed. Shouyou glowered at him.

 

“It’s only hard because you get jealous so easily, Koutarou.”

 

“Keiji! That is not true.”

 

“And then you get all depressed after that.”

 

“That is completely false. You know it’s wrong to spread lies.”

 

“Seriously,” Keiji reached out smoothly and linked their fingers loosely, “what am I going to do with you?”

 

Koutarou hummed quietly and ducked his head a tiny bit to give his boyfriend a kiss on the cheek. Shouyou and Tetsurou exchanged whispered remarks about how grossly cute this pairing was.

 

“Keiji, can I kiss you too?” Shouyou suddenly exclaimed. His eyes widened in shock at his own boldness and he clamped a hand over his mouth quickly. Koutarou turned to him with equal surprise.

 

“Sorry, can’t do that.” Keiji looked at Shouyou apologetically, “What about a hug?”

 

“Really?” Shouyou suppressed a squeal and half-dived into Keiji’s inviting arms. Shouyou giggled from happiness, not surprised at all about how warm it was and how much like home it felt. He wrapped his own arms around Keiji’s waist and squeezed tightly. He wanted to sleep.

 

“Keiji!”

 

“What?”

 

“You can’t go hugging random people like that!”

 

“You told me he was a really good friend of yours.”

 

“Yeah but-“

 

“And the kid’s so adorable.” Shouyou practically _purred_ blissfully at that.

 

“I know that, but-“

 

“See? This was what I was talking about. You get jealous so easily. It’s only a harmless hug. ” Keiji raised his eyebrows as if daring Koutarou to think of a comeback.

 

“I’m not being jealous.”

 

Keiji ruffled Shouyou’s fluffy hair before letting go and stepping back.

 

“You’re a great hugger, Keiji.” Shouyou’s smile looked like it was going to be permanent.

 

“Hmph!” Koutarou crossed his arms, “I’m going to get a drink.”

 

“And…there he goes.” Tetsurou put a hand on his hip as he watched his best friend stalk away. He turned towards Shouyou, “This is why you shouldn’t hug people’s significant others when you’re clearly drunk.”

 

Shouyou stuck his tongue out at him.

 

“I better go after him.” Keiji said, a smile forming on his lips.

 

“What do you usually do to cheer him up?” Shouyou asked.

 

“He likes being hugged from the back.” Keiji chuckled, “But it’s pretty awkward since he’s taller than me.”

 

“Ohohoho, really? That’s interesting...” Tetsurou walked off with an evil smirk. Shouyou waited a few seconds before he heard an extremely loud,

 

“AHHH TETSUROU!! STOP THAT, EW!”

 

Shouyou shook with laughter.

 

“He’ll definitely want me to be there now.” Keiji ruffled Shouyou’s hair one last time, “It was very nice meeting you, Shouyou.”

 

“It was nice meeting you too, Keiji!” Shouyou smiled giddily.

 

“Maybe next time I’ll let you kiss me.” Keiji winked and then walked towards where the shout came from. As he strolled by, all heads turned to see his graceful form, beauty at it’s finest.

 

Now that Shouyou was left on his own again, he was lost as to what he should do. Maybe get a new drink? Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. Still need to finish that red wine and everything.

 

* * *

 

Shouyou was back to sipping his drink. It’d been an hour after his encounter with Keiji, and he’d already been paired up with fifteen other people that his dad _insisted_ was his type. They weren’t.

 

Although there had been some promising ones, none of them sparked Shouyou’s interests in the special way that Tadashi was always going on about. At this point, his dad was getting frustrated. Plus, he was willing to admit that maybe he was getting a tiny, little, _teensy_ bit tipsy and his head wasn’t very clear. Not exactly the ideal condition to be in when meeting possible life-long partners. His dad had shoved a glass of water into his hands and directed him to the dance floor. He gave him strict instructions to stay right where he was and wait for Love to finish dancing so he could ask for his expert opinion.

 

Thus, Shouyou was back to sipping his drink and waiting.

 

He could hear that the song was about to end and ran through what he was going to say inside his head. The dancers on the dance floor slowed with the music and eventually stopped in sync. Everyone bowed to their partners gracefully and exchanged polite remarks about each other’s company in the waltz. After the ladies and gents had dispersed, Shouyou stepped forward to find the man he was waiting for. Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t very hard to spot.

 

Love was dressed in a stark white suit, hardly a blemish visible, with a contrasting bright pink tie. His hair was done up in the usual style but the dye on the tip of his hair was changed yet again. It was pastel pink now to go along with his color coordination. His shoes shined with a glamor that only recently polished shoes had and his flashy smile was as white as his suit. Yet another beautiful person to look at…Shouyou sighed. If only Love was a little bit taller.

 

“Yuu! Over here!”

 

“Ah, Shouyou! There you are!” Yuu rushed over, “You were so short I couldn’t see you, man.”

 

“You can’t talk, Yuu,” Shouyou teased back, “You’re shorter than a midget like me.”

 

“So you admit it? That you’re a midget?”

 

“If I’m a midget, what are you then?”

 

“I’m a _divine spirit_! Don’t be rude to your elders!” Yuu reached up to grab Shouyou’s ear as punishment. It didn’t stop him.

 

“So now you’re old, too? Are you sure you’re not just shrinking from age? Are you sure you weren’t taller before?”

 

“I am _not_ shrinking!”

 

“Whatever you say, Yuu.” Shouyou grinned cheekily and turned around, beckoning his ‘elder’ to follow after him. They arrived at a secluded seating area, an elaborate space with a fur carpet, several armchairs, and two sofas arranged in a rectangle shape with a coffee table right in the middle. There were more sections like this placed around the ballroom in case anybody was feeling sick or just needed a rest from dancing and eating. Although it was very nicely decorated, most guests tended to stay near where all the fun was.

 

They seated themselves down on adjacent armchairs and Shouyou placed his water down on the table.

 

“So?” Yuu looked at Shouyou with a hint of amusement, “Your old man said you had business with me?”

 

“Yeah, I do.” Shouyou said, avoiding Yuu’s inquisitive eyes.

 

“Finally worried about your love life, is it?”

 

“Yeah…I guess.” Shouyou rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, “It’s just, all of a sudden, I feel like I’m being left behind by all of my friends.”

 

“Like you’re the only one who’s alone, right?” Yuu patted his back, “I totally understand that feeling.”

 

“Everyone’s been getting together and finding their own happiness! Why can’t I have something like that? You’ve gotta help me out, Yuu.”

 

“Of course! I’ve got your back, Shouyou!”

 

“Then, since you _are_ Love,” Shouyou turned to Yuu with a hopeful glint in his eyes, “do you have any professional advice for me?”

 

“Hmm.” Yuu crossed his arms and legs, leaning back in his chair. “Shouyou.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“There’s one thing you have to understand. The only way you’re gonna find this person is by looking yourself.”

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

 

“It means that even if I shoved a very nice partner to pair you up with, it wouldn’t last. Your dad’s been doing that all night, and what do you think of all those promising people?”

 

“They’re not right.” Shouyou shook his head in understanding, “Meeting them didn’t feel complete. Not for me, at least.”

 

“Exactly. You have to do the searching yourself. In time, your hard work will pay off.”

 

“But how do I go about doing that?! There are thousands upon millions of people here! I could be searching for years and _years!_ ”

 

“Damn, Shouyou, you can’t be so picky!” Yuu laughed, “I’ve been alive for way~ longer and I’m still single!”

 

“That’s pretty ironic, _Love._ ” Yuu waved a dismissive hand.

 

“What I’m trying to say here is that…make sure you take the opportunity when it presents itself.”

 

“But will it ever come?” Shouyou stared at his fidgeting fingers.

 

“That’s up to you, Shouyou.” Yuu smiled softly at the younger man. Shouyou offered an identical one in return.

 

“How do I know when I’m in love, Yuu?”

 

“Wow, I didn’t expect such a naïve question coming from you.” Yuu put his hand on Shouyou’s flaming orange hair and twirled his fingers in the curls. He was silent for a while before answering.

 

“Love comes in many forms, Shouyou. Think of it like this. When you love someone, they’re the first ones you think of in the middle of a party where you know nobody. You want them to be with you constantly, during those times when you can’t sleep, when you sometimes can’t seem to even get up in the morning because everything feels meaningless. Love is when you fall and they don’t mind when they’re pulled down as well, because they were planning on falling with you anyways.”

 

“Yuu, falling is bad.”

 

“Yes, falling is bad. That’s just what being in love is like. Love is when both of you have fallen so many times, your arms and knees are cut and bruised and you’re not sure if the scars will ever go away. But you don’t let it get to you. Falling is bad, but not getting back up is worse. Make sure you get back up together.”

 

“But Yuu, how do I _know_?”

 

“You’ll know because…you’ll be willing to fall endlessly for them. If they leave you down there, then it wasn’t ever meant to be. But, if you’re _really_ lucky, Shouyou, they will do the same for you in return. And then you’ll know that they love you in the exact same way.”

 

There was a lull in conversation as Shouyou tried to absorb all of it.

 

“Yuu, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

 

“Don’t worry about it, kid.” Yuu laughed breezily and rubbed his head affectionately, “You’ll understand one day.”

 

Yuu removed his hand and stood up. He straightened his suit unconsciously and ran his hand through his hair to make sure it was still nice (of course it was). He grinned at Shouyou.

 

“Well, I’ve got to get going.”

 

“Hm? Where?”

 

“I told someone that I’d go find them after I finished dancing and talking to a certain worried brat.”

 

“I’m not a brat!” Shouyou crossed his arms and pouted, “Who is it?”

 

“His name’s Asahi, but you should call him War.” Yuu puffed his chest out proudly, “We really hit it off tonight. Fingers crossed, Shouyou. Maybe he’ll be the one!”

 

“About time, Yuu!” Shouyou laughed and crossed his fingers, holding them up to show Yuu.

 

“I’m glad I could be of some help tonight.”

 

“I still don’t understand anything you said, but thanks, Yuu! I’ll keep everything in mind.”

 

“I’m off then!” Yuu speed-walked away, turning back to wave at Shouyou.

 

“Good luck, Yuu!” Shouyou half-shouted to be heard over the music and all the chattering around them.

 

“Back at you, Shouyou! You’ll probably need it more than me!”

 

“Yeah, well, screw you too!”

 

Yuu flung his head back and laughed heartily. He gave a final wave and sauntered away. Shouyou’s smile was radiant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell that i'm obviously an expert at love because i am, believe me. Please leave a comment because feedback is very highly appreciated! Thank you for reading :D


	4. Chapter 4

As hard as it was to admit, Shouyou was starting to think he had a few problems with the amount of alcohol at the party. After his talk with Yuu, he finally gained enough self-control to rid himself of any more intoxicating drinks. Hell, if Koutarou could do it (namely the one who went absolutely _berserk_ at the last party) he could do it too!

 

He downed the rest of his water and set off with a newfound purpose. He was a man on a mission.

 

As he walked further and further down the ever-expanding ballroom, the groups of people were thinning out. He made sure to make as much eye contact as possible and include a polite head nod as acknowledgement (as if doing so would spark a faster reaction with whoever he was supposed to find). He searched left and right, occasionally grabbing some food on his way. While he munched and walked, something caught his eye towards the side of the room.

 

The ballroom was equipped with many standard things. The dance floor was a must, the walls were painted white and beige, and the buffet tables offered everything there was in the entire universe. This was to be expected. The orchestra was always ready to play everybody’s personal favorites and the looming chandeliers threw light into every dark corner. The amount of luxury was infinite.

 

However, it distracted many people from another aspect of the party. The walls of the room were decorated with paintings, murals, and portraits (depending on where you were). Nobody paid attention to things like these. After all, it was probably an afterthought to make it seem more like a ballroom. Nobody looked at the walls, and nobody looked at the windows.

 

They weren’t really windows. They were made of glass, yet the view on the other side was pitch black, a boundless night. Shouyou knew what these windows did. It displayed the image of any desired landscape. Anything you pictured could be projected onto the glass. The only requirement was to be touching it. Shouyou remembered that he used to play with these when he was still very young. It was different compared to the one in Natsu’s room (that kind of glass could be set to a specific favorite scene). However, not many people knew of the existence of something so wonderful.

 

Shouyou saw blue. An icy blue that left chills trailing down his spine and goosebumps rising on his arms. Shouyou was immediately drawn to it even though everything inside him was screaming _turn around and go the other way, idiot_. Shouyou walked without really knowing it. He just somehow thought that he had to get there. It felt nostalgic.

 

The person using the window had his back facing Shouyou. It was out in the open, yet strangely still concealed, like his presence diminished from standing still for too long. Nobody near them had noticed this odd person or how the large window was glowing softly, too engrossed in their own conversations. Well, it wasn’t like this area was as densely populated as before.

 

“Hey.” Shouyou crept up behind the man. He heard a sharp intake of breath and the image was suddenly gone as the other person visibly flinched.

 

“What?” The man’s voice was sharp. Shouyou stumbled a few steps back as a glaring pair of eyes settled on him.

 

“Tobio…right?” Shouyou said uncertainly, desperately trying to remember the name of the first person he met tonight. He held back a sigh of relief as the other nodded his head. “I’m sorry I startled you.”

 

“I wasn’t startled.” Tobio gruffly replied and turned back to face the dark window. He held his hand out and lightly touched it with the tips of his fingers. The image reappeared.

 

“Ah!” Shouyou went to stand beside Tobio, gazing at the tall window with wonder, “That’s beautiful!”

 

The window displayed a landscape of an icy terrain. The ground shimmered as snow drifted by lazily and it shone brightly as the light from a nearby star shared its glow. Mountains of ice and snow, gathered from millions of years of constant snowfall, melted into the background.

 

“It’s one of Blizzard’s ice planets.” Tobio said, trying not to sound so interested in something so small like a planet.

 

“Is this one your favorite?”

 

“I wouldn’t say _favorite_. It’s just nice to look at.”

 

“Can I show you mine?”

 

Tobio hesitated before removing his hand and the window turned black again. Shouyou smiled brightly and placed his palm flatly on the cold surface. It changed to the inside of an ice cave. Light was reflected and curved on the icy stalagmites as water dripped from overhead. The blueness of the walls shined with richness and other areas appeared to be a glossy purple color. It was cold just looking at it.

 

“Blizzard’s son was the one who showed me this view.” Shouyou said.

 

“His son? Which one?”

 

“Kei, the perpetually grumpy one.”

 

“Ah, him.” Tobio stared intently at a spot where dripping water was bouncing off the ground, “That guy’s irritating as hell.”

 

“Yeah, he is.” Shouyou agreed, “But he’s not all bad.” Shouyou took his hand off the glass and lowered himself to the ground. Tobio gave him an odd look.

 

“There are chairs over there.”

 

“Just sit on the floor with me, stop being so rational.” Tobio continued standing for a few awkward seconds, looking as tense as a wooden board, before he followed after Shouyou. He tucked his long legs in and crossed them.

 

“So, how’d you meet Kei?” Shouyou asked cheerily. At least Tobio wasn’t glaring anymore.

 

“I’ve met both of Blizzard’s sons, actually.” Tobio said, still looking out of place on the floor, “It was something to do with my dad’s work.”

 

“Then you must’ve met their sisters, as well!”

 

“Don’t be stupid, there’s, like, hundreds of them.”

 

“I’ve met about 63 already. We play iceball sometimes.”

 

Tobio raised his eyebrows and tilted his head.

 

“Ok, well, _they_ play iceball and I just try not to melt it.”

 

Tobio nodded his head silently as he stared ahead at nothing in particular, not even pretending to be interested with Shouyou’s story. He suddenly turned his head as he thought of something.

 

“Speaking of which, are you actually that good with your power that even my dad praises you?”

 

“Huh?” Shouyou looked surprised by the sudden enquiry. Tobio continued,

 

“Should I trust that you’re as good as our dads say you are?”

 

“Well of course you should!”

 

“No offense, but you don’t look like the best person to have a tutoring job.”

 

“There are plenty of people better than me, sure, but I’m pretty good!”

 

“Better than you? Your siblings?”

 

Shouyou crossed his arms and pouted, “Yeah, we’ve got a few geniuses in the family.”

 

“Not you, then?”

 

“Stop rubbing it in!”

 

Tobio looked away and hid a chuckle beneath his hand. Shouyou narrowed his eyes at Tobio’s shaking figure and pouted harder.

 

“What about you? Don’t you have any overachieving siblings?”

 

Tobio’s laughter ceased. He turned back to face Shouyou and the cold stare made a reappearance.

 

“I’m an only child.”

 

Shouyou regarded the half-glare he was receiving, confused as to why declaring such a statement would sour his mood.

 

“Well, I bet that’s pretty fun, too! My sisters can get _so_ annoying sometimes and-“

 

“What does it feel like?” Tobio wrapped his arms around his legs and rested his head on them, staring at a group of laughing people.

 

“To have siblings?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“They’re not actual siblings, y’know? Not really.” Shouyou copied Tobio’s actions. “We just happened to be born into this place and we all just happened to know who to call our father. It’s not like somebody gave birth to us. We just… appeared.”

 

“But you would still call them your brothers and sisters?”

 

“Well, of course.” Shouyou smiled at Tobio, his cheeks on his knees, “There are some I’ve never even met, but I can tell as soon as I meet them.”

 

“Ehh? That must be handy.” Tobio sighed, “On the other hand, I don’t even know what family is.”

 

“What do you mean? You’re Tragedy’s son, how much cooler can you get?!” Shouyou gestured wildy with his hands, “You must have inherited such an awesome power, too!”

 

Tobio scowled at him, “Bad things happen wherever I go, and you think that’s a good thing?”

 

“That’s only because you can’t control it, yet!”

 

“Shut up! Why are you here anyways?”

 

“Huh?” Shouyou dropped his arms in confusion, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

 

“Are you some kind of idiot? Don’t you realize why I was born this way, without any siblings? Why I hate being in crowds and talking to people?”

 

“Because your face is scary?”

 

“Because nobody wants disaster in their life, and that’s exactly what I bring with me! Nobody in his or her right mind would even step close to me. So why are you here?” Tobio’s frown was back in full-force.

 

“You looked lonely.” Shouyou said simply and shrugged his shoulders like it was all the explanation he needed to give.

 

“Huh?” Tobio’s glare was deadly, “That’s not an answer, dumbass.”

 

“You still are. Lonely, I mean.”

 

“That’s none of your business, is it?”

 

“You don’t have to be so stingy, Tobio.” Shouyou narrowed his eyes, “You don’t have to worry. I’m just as lonely as you are.”

 

“You? With all the siblings you could ask for?” Tobio looked doubtful.

 

“I may have a lot, but the amount of people doesn’t mean anything. Besides, it’s not like I talk to them a lot, they’re pretty busy people. I usually just sit in my room and do nothing.”

 

“Then…you mean your love life is boring?”

 

“Ah jeez,” Shouyou frowned as his cheeks heated up, “You don’t have to spell it out so bluntly.”

 

“For an airhead like you, I didn’t think having a love life was a priority.”

 

“I didn’t think so, either! But then I even got left behind by my little sister.”

 

“That’s pretty funny.”

 

“Don’t laugh at me!” Shouyou huffed.

 

“Oh, I remember now.” Tobio looked thoughtful as he spoke, “My dad mentioned it briefly when we met. What’s this thing about a star?”

 

“You don’t know?”

 

“I don’t exactly get out much, idiot.”

 

Shouyou laughed cheerfully at Tobio’s sullen expression. He leaned back against the wall and adjusted his position as he thought about what to say.

 

“It’s something that we do in our family and almost everybody knows about it. Because we’re the sons and daughters of Sun, we are each born with a corresponding star. Our star is something that we all try to obtain as our lives progress. However, we’re not allowed to get them on our own, it’s physically impossible.”

 

Tobio looked intrigued, “Then how is anyone ever going to get it?”

 

“It has to be given to us as a gift.”

 

“A gift? From who?”

 

“From anybody! Anybody who isn’t part of our family can get it.”

 

“Really? Then why not just ask someone to go fetch it for you?”

 

“It’s not that _easy,_ Tobio.” Shouyou shook his head.

 

“Then what? I don’t see a problem.”

 

“The person who gets it must love, in some way or another, the one they want to give it to. It’s a voluntary action, I can’t just force someone to do it.”

 

“I don’t get it.” Tobio’s confusion was clear on his face, “Where do you even get it? How does the star know that they love the other person?”

 

“Oh that’s a completely different thing, then.”

 

“What?”

 

“You get it from the starkeeper! He’s really cool, you should meet him.”

 

“And? What does this ‘starkeeper’ do?”

 

“Exactly what his name suggests. He keeps all the stars in convenient little drawers and, whenever someone makes a withdrawal, he just has to find it and give it to them.”

 

“In drawers?”

 

“Ok, well, they’re not the _real_ stars, of course. Those are still out there in space. These are like miniature versions of them. And then you put them in your room and it changes the scenery on the walls to what’s happening around the star, like you’re standing right on it! It’s super cool!”

 

“But I still don’t get how these things can confirm any feeling of love.”

 

“That’s the starkeeper’s job as well. His power is to be able to see all these colorful strings connecting different people. He told me about it once. However, those strings disappear if you’re not close to any other people. The only one that is always present is love. He basically sees if you have that inside you or not and makes a decision based on that.”

 

“Really? But what’s so great about having a star anyways?” Tobio asked. Shouyou was delighted about the amount of words Tobio had actually contributed to the conversation.

 

“The star’s not necessarily the best part. It’s the fact that you have someone by your side that loves you no matter what. Having the star is just further proof.”

 

Tobio didn’t say anything for a little bit. He stared off blankly into space as he regarded the information. “Your family has some weird customs.”

 

“Really? I think it’s cool that we have this. Having a dream to chase is a lot of fun.”

 

“But you just told me that you sit in your room by yourself and don’t do anything.”

 

“You don’t need to focus on the details!” Shouyou crossed his arms dejectedly, “I came to this party to find that one person, you know? Someone to give me a star... but I haven’t been very lucky so far.”

 

“Maybe because you choose to talk to people like me?”

 

“That doesn’t have to be a bad thing, does it?”

 

“N-no…” Tobio hid his face into his knees to hide his reddening face.

 

“It doesn’t really matter anyway.” Shouyou said, unaware of the effect his straightforward honesty had on Tobio, “I have a whole lifetime to find this person.”

 

They sat in relative silence after that. Tobio watched partygoers pass by, whispering secrets and sharing laughter. Shouyou kept an eye on the boy next to him in a subtle way, because no he’s definitely _not_ a creep. He observed how Tobio’s eyelashes curved just a little bit and his eyes were reflecting off light like the ice did from before. His black hair framed his pale skin delicately and Shouyou had an urge to touch it.

 

“Hey, Tobio.”

 

“What?”

 

“Let’s do something fun.”

 

“Huh? Like what?” Tobio couldn’t hide the excitement in his voice, even if it only showed just a little bit. He tried to hide it under a layer of indifference. Shouyou smiled brighter.

 

“Will you dance with me?”

 

“…”

 

“…”

 

“ _Absolutely not.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if this chapter seemed a little short but I hope it cleared up some stuff that I didn't clearly explain before and you might've been confused about. Thank you for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

“Dance with me.”

 

“I said no.”

 

“Tobio~!” Shouyou tugged on his arm as he stood up. Tobio glared at him.

 

“Dance by yourself.”

 

“I can’t dance on my own!” Shouyou pulled harder but Tobio wasn’t budging.

 

“You said we should do something fun. Dancing isn’t fun.”

 

“Yeah, probably because you suck at it.”

 

“I bet you’re not any better.” Tobio retorted and finally yanked his arm away from Shoyou’s insistent pulling. He stood up to loom over the other boy with his full height.

 

“I’m a great dancer!” Shouyou claimed and grabbed Tobio’s wrist, not seemingly intimidated by the height difference at all, “Let’s just go!” He started leading Tobio to the dance floor. Tobio’s eyes widened.

 

“No! Stop!” Tobio jerked his hand away like he was being burned from the touch of Shouyou’s fingers. Shouyou looked backwards in surprise as Tobio muttered something inaudible.

 

“Huh? What’d you say?”

 

“I said I can’t.”

 

“Can’t what?”

 

“I can’t dance!” Tobio growled as his cheeks started tingeing a soft pink. He looked away from Shouyou’s intrigued expression.

 

“Oh…” Shouyou’s smile reappeared, “So you actually _do_ suck?”

 

“Shut up!”

 

“Hey Tobio!” Shouyou’s eyes lit up mischievously and his grin broadened, “Want me to teach you how to dance?”

 

“No way in _hell_ am I letting you teach me.” Tobio scowled back at him, “Controlling my powers is one thing but this is completely ridiculous.”

 

“You’re a stubborn one, ain’t ya?”

 

“It’s more like I’m not allowed t-“

 

“Loosen up, Tobio!” Shouyou laughed and grabbed his arm again, “A little dancing never harmed anyone!”

 

“Shouyou, let go! You don’t understand!” Tobio struggled to get out of Shouyou’s tightening grip as he marched them towards the dance floor.

 

“It really isn’t that bad, Tobio. Here, the song’s starting, get into position.” Shouyou successfully pulled both of them into the right spot and aligned their bodies, “Now just follow my lead.”

 

“Dumbass, what are you doing?” Tobio panicked as he heard the first few notes of the song start playing and he had no idea what to do. His whole body was rigid and he didn’t notice how he was almost crushing Shouyou’s hand with his own. The hand that was supposed to go on his dance partner’s back was hanging limply by his side and he just _really didn’t want to do this._

 

“Hold it here.” Shouyou instructed and directed his hands into the right position, “It’s a really simple dance. Basically, when my foot goes back, you follow it with your foot that’s opposite it.”

 

‘Huh? I don’t get it. What do I do?” Tobio’s nervousness was clearly showing in his voice.

 

“Just follow me.” Shouyou said reassuringly. He stepped backwards with his left foot and Tobio hastily chased after it with his right foot like he was told. Maybe a little too hastily.

 

“Ow, Tobio!” Shouyou broke apart from their formation to do some cute little hopping on his surviving foot.

 

“S-sorry.” Tobio looked away out of embarrassment and drew his foot back immediately.

 

“Concentrate.” Shouyou ordered and slipped back into Tobio’s still-suspended arms.

 

“I’m trying.” Tobio replied gruffly, still feeling unnerved as they moved in a large circle around the dance floor. He couldn’t help but watch some others around him dance with such grace and certainty and he felt a little ashamed to be here with such inadequate experience. He looked down at his feet and tried to follow the repeating pattern of steps.

 

A minute into the song, Tobio was already improving. Shouyou smiled widely as his partner relaxed into the rhythm. Even though the eye contact could do with a little work, at least he wasn’t glaring at his feet anymore.

 

“Oi, Tobio, get ready.” Shouyou chirped, looking up to catch the taller one’s attention, “There’s a spin coming up.”

 

“What? I don’t how to do that!” Tobio half-froze.

 

“Don’t worry. Just stand there and spin casually. You also have to hold your hand up so you can spin around it.”

 

“Oh…” Tobio loosed up a bit, “Wait, isn’t that the girl’s part?”

 

“Yup!”

 

“You were going to make me dance the girl’s part?!”

 

“Well, someone has to.” Shouyou blinked innocently.

 

“Idiot, I’m obviously taller than you.”

 

“That doesn’t mean a single thing! Don’t discriminate against short boys!” Shouyou scolded (but it really wasn’t working with the grin on his face). They waltzed a few more steps before Shouyou yanked Tobio’s hand up as far as he could reach, so far he was even tiptoeing, “Now spin!”

 

“Shouyou, you fool! That’s not physically possible!” Tobio merely just stood as the couples around them twirled elegantly. His hand was barely above his own head and he stared at Shouyou with an unimpressed expression. Shouyou, meanwhile, was still straining with his small arms.

 

“Tobio, you’re supposed to _sp_ -“

 

A deafening shattering sound cut his sentence short.

 

The heavenly music stopped, replaced by the sounds of running feet and chaos. All of a sudden, too many things were happening, too many sounds and screams. Shouyou looked around in alarm as people around him flooded past quickly. Younger children were already crying and all the adults were just as panicked. Shouyou’s eyes widened at the sight before him.

 

Along the entire ballroom, stretching into infinity, all the windows, those wonderful, _beautiful_ windows, were cracking and shattering one by one. Glass showered down on the unknowing people standing too close to the walls and they ran for cover. Not only that, the light from the overhanging chandeliers were going out as the fire flickered and disappeared. A cold wind had settled in the room, content to blow out the light and drown everyone in darkness.

 

“Run!”

 

“Get out of here!”

 

Shouyou tightened his grip on the hand he didn’t notice he was still holding. He turned his head to look at Tobio and his blood froze over. Tobio’s despair was entirely reflected in his blue eyes and the fear was so deep that even Shouyou began to hurt. Not one of them said a word as the disorder around them ensued.

 

Shouyou finally decided to just make a run for it, like the other guests. However, a deep rumbling beneath his feet stopped him. The screams increased but Shouyou could only stare with horror.

 

Right under Tobio’s feet, the ground was cracking like ice. The small fissures spread out quickly, as if they were spindly fingers trying to drag everyone here under the ground and into nothingness. The sound was horrible, like a thousand breaking bones, and Shouyou had an urge to cover his ears so he wouldn’t hear it.

 

However, Tobio seemed to be having it worse than him. His legs were visibly shaking and his desperate hold on Shouyou’s hand was cutting the blood flow off. Everything about his stance screamed ‘ _distress_ ’ and Shouyou had to find a way out, _right now._

 

Some feeling returned into Shouyou’s limbs and he immediately started dragging Tobio towards the exit. As Tobio stumbled after him, they were swept up into the sea of escaping people, all crying for their safety. Shouyou stepped on shards of glass and tried to avoid the larger gaps in the floor, even though it was impossibly narrow for anyone to fall in.

 

As they hurried along, the lights were dimming unpleasantly. Shouyou cast a fireball above his head a safe distance away from him and the crowd. It glowed brightly and led the way for Shouyou and many of the people behind him.

 

The wind howled non-stop, trying furiously to wipe out this new source of light. Even though the fire was providing heat, Shouyou felt a shiver crawl up his spine. He looked back to check on Tobio’s condition, hand still wrapped firmly in the other’s.

 

“Tobio? Are you okay?”

 

Tobio nodded, yet it didn’t seem like he was physically _there._ His eyes were glazed over and his feet were moving automatically.

 

“Almost there. Just a little more.” Shouyou said, hoping that he could calm Tobio down with such minimal assurance. A few more minutes of hurried walking, Shouyou finally saw the large entrance to the ballroom. A line of fire flashed the way to it.

 

As he got closer, he could see a lot of his family gathered to the side, shouting guidance to those still trying to exit, and hastily creating bursts of fire for more light.

 

“Dad! Dad!” Shouyou caught sight of his father and rushed to meet him, pulling Tobio after him.

 

“Shouyou! Are you okay?” Sun leaned down to inspect Shouyou for any injury.

 

“I’m fine.” Shouyou shook his head dismissively, “But what’s happening, dad? Tell me what’s happening!”

 

“I’ll explain later. There’s no time right now.” Sun straightened up and turned to Tobio, “For now, Tobio, you need to go see your dad. He’s outside waiting for you.”

 

“I’ll take him.” Shouyou volunteered. Sun nodded and clapped both of them on the shoulder.

 

“Let’s go, Tobio.” Shouyou said gently. Tobio nodded again and followed. They shuffled out with the throngs of still-panicked people. As soon as they got out, Shouyou could see that most people were quickly leaving the hall to go back to their homes. The hallway was more lit than the inside of the ballroom, but it still wasn’t extremely bright. The chill of the room extended even further still.

 

“Tobio!” Tragedy emerged from a crowd to the right and Shouyou waved him over. “Are you guys alright?”

 

“We’re not hurt.” Shouyou reassured him. He pulled Tobio forward so he could talk to his father.

 

“Dad.” Tobio stared blankly at Tragedy, his hand still holding limply onto Shouyou’s, “Dad, dad, I-“

 

“It’s okay, Tobio, it’s okay.” Tragedy wrapped his arms around his son and patted the back of his head gently.

 

“Dad I… I did it again.” Tobio’s voice was unusually hollow.

 

“Shouyou, do you mind if we have some time alone?” Tragedy asked, a pained expression on his face. Shouyou quickly shook his head, let go of Tobio’s hand, and walked the other way. He barely heard their hushed whispers as he left.

 

He decided to head back to his dad so he could help out with guiding guests out. There seemed to be an endless amount of people still piling out of the doors. However, most of the damage was already done. The rumbling, the cracking floor, the exploding windows, they had all stopped. Shouyou set his eyes forward. Maybe he could also finally figure out what _the hell was going on._ He sped up the pace before he felt a hand around his arm, effectively stopping him in a sudden halt.

 

“Shouyou! Shouyou, you’re okay!” Tadashi’s relieved voice rang from behind him. Shouyou spun around instantly and enveloped his brother in a giant hug.

 

“What about you, Tadashi? Are you injured?” Shouyou squeezed tightly.

 

“I’m perfectly fine.” Tadashi said, “But you need to help me, _please_.”

 

“What? What is it?” Shouyou moved back to hold Tadashi at arm’s length. He could see the wild desperation on Tadashi’s face, having missed it when he immediately moved for a hug.

 

“It’s Kei!” Tadashi exclaimed, his voice becoming more and more worried, “We were trying to get away but the lights were going off so quickly. He couldn’t see where he was going and he fell and there was glass all over the floor and- and-“ There were tears forming in his eyes as he tried to explain and Shouyou rubbed his arm comfortingly.

 

“Calm down, Tadashi.”

 

Tadashi took a deep breath before continuing, “Kei ‘s hands are all scratched up, and there are some deep cuts on his shins. I tried removing most of the glass and he keeps telling me that it doesn’t hurt, but I know that it must be _so painful_. I don’t want to hurt him, Shouyou!”

 

“What can I do?” Shouyou tightened his grip on Tadashi’s shoulders.

 

“I need you to go find Youth. I heard he’s going around to help the injured, but I haven’t seen him anywhere. I was trying to find him but there are so many people here, and I don’t want to leave Kei alone for too long.”

 

“Leave it to me, Tadashi. I’ll find him!” Shouyou nodded his head firmly. Tadashi gave him a weak smile.

 

“Please. I’m counting on you.”

 

“Go on, go to Kei. I’ll bring Youth to you.” Shouyou said, letting his brother go.

 

“We’re over by the wall over there.” Tadashi pointed as he turned around. Shouyou shoved him forward.

 

“Go make your boyfriend feel better already, you slow idiot.”

 

“Ah right. Thank you, Shouyou.” Tadashi quickly said goodbye and departed.

 

Shouyou began his hunt immediately. He knew what Youth looked like, having seen him from afar a few times. Not many people could miss his bright, silver hair or his kind smile. Rumor had it that he had an amazing skill, too. The way he could never be injured thanks to his regenerative abilities was a highly sought after power. What made it even more useful was that he could share this power in the form of healing. He was known to be one of the best healers out of all the divine spirits who specialized in that field.

 

Shouyou had also heard that he had a pretty intimidating husband, though he wasn’t sure just who it was.

 

Shouyou weaved in and out of the crowds of dispersing people. There seemed to be a designated area for the wounded to the side of the hallway, leaving a wide gap so anybody that was leaving had room to walk. Following this logic, Youth should be somewhere around and Shouyou would eventually run into him if he walked down this line of injured people.

 

As Shouyou speed-walked, he caught a glimpse of familiar white, spiky hair and stopped short.

 

“Koutarou?”

 

Koutarou was sitting down against the wall, one leg crossed under the other outstretched one. His head was hung low and Shouyou had almost thought that maybe he’d fallen asleep. When he slowly blinked and focused his eyes on Shouyou, Koutarou visibly brightened.

 

“Shouyou! Hey!”

 

“Koutarou, you’re hurt!” Shouyou rushed over at once and knelt down to inspect his friend’s leg. His foot was twisted at an awkward angle and little trails of blood were running down his skin. His pant legs were rolled up so Shouyou could see most of the damage.

 

“Yeah, I kinda…fell? I was running along with everyone else but my foot caught on one of those fissures in the ground. I was about to dislodge it but someone slammed into me from behind and I got pushed down. Seems like I twisted my ankle really badly. The bright side is that I wasn’t near the wall, so the glass shards just scratched me a little.”

 

“Does it hurt?” Shouyou looked at Koutarou with a face full of worry.

 

“I can handle it, Shouyou.”

 

“Where’s Keiji?”

 

“He went to get me something to drink. He wasn’t hurt, which I’m really grateful for.”

 

“That’s good.” Shouyou offered a small smile, “Y’know, your story is pretty similar to a friend of mine’s.”

 

“Yeah, I’d imagine. There were hundreds of people tripping and falling since the ground was shaking so much. When I fell, I brought down, like, five other people who tripped over _me_ because they didn’t see me on the ground.”

 

“Ouch.” Shouyou winced, “That sounds painful.”

 

“I’m quite surprised you didn’t get hurt, Shouyou, considering how much of a klutz you are.”

 

Shouyou chuckled softly. He looked around the dark hallway with only a few more candles left, still sustaining the minimal light.

 

“Hey, Koutarou?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“You can control light, can’t you? Why don’t you brighten up the place a bit? You see… my friend fell because it was too dark and he couldn’t see where he was running.”

 

Koutarou sighed, “I can’t do that.”

 

“Huh? Why not?”

 

“Because my light needs an equal balance of darkness to counter it. Don’t you wonder about how well Tetsurou and I get along? Without that balance, I’ll blind everybody here if I used my powers.” Koutarou explained, “Which is why Tetsurou’s powers are also essential in this kind of situation. But I lost him somewhere on the way out.”

 

“Oh...that’s how it works?”

 

“Shouyou, you really need to study up.”

 

Shouyou rolled his eyes and made to stand. Koutarou’s eyes followed him as he did so, “I’ve got to get going now.”

 

“For what?”

 

“I’m looking for Youth. Have you seen him?”

 

“Youth?” Koutarou hummed as he thought, “I think I heard people talking about him down that way.” He pointed in the direction that Shouyou had originally been heading.

 

“You haven’t seen him, though? I’m sure he could patch you up quickly.”

 

“Maybe he’s just making his way down from the top so there’s an efficient system?”

 

“Ohh,” Shouyou nodded, “That makes sense.”

 

“Is this for your injured friend?”

 

“Yeah, I’ve got to hurry.”

 

“Good luck Shouyou.”

 

“When I find him, I’ll bring him to you, too! Just wait for me.”

 

“Thanks, man.” Koutarou waved as Shouyou receded and jogged away.

 

* * *

 

Shouyou found Youth rather easily. In a matter of minutes of cruising down the hallway, he spied a head of silver hair. The figure was bending down to inspect another wounded victim sitting on the floor. Shouyou jogged straight up to him.

 

“Youth!” The kneeling man perked up at the call of his name and looked at the approaching boy. “You’re Youth, right?”

 

“Yes, I am.” Youth nodded and smiled warmly. Shouyou came to a stop in front of him as he went back to working on his patient.

 

“My name’s Shouyou, and I was wondering if you could come and help some of my friends out. They’re injured as well.”

 

“So?”

 

Shouyou yelped and jumped to the side as a man suddenly spoke from behind him. He whipped around with his arms held in front of him in a fighting stance.

 

He looked up at the stranger, suddenly regretting his action of challenging this _obviously very tough-looking guy who could probably beat the crap out of him easily._

 

“Look, kid. There are hundreds of injured people here.” The man continued, “What makes you think your emergency should be held in higher regard?”

 

“Oh, um…” Shouyou lowered his arms, failing to find any words to respond. Now that he thought about it, having the best healer in the room take priority over him was a rather selfish action. His ears heated up with shame.

 

“Daichi, don’t talk to the poor boy like that.” Youth scolded as he stood up. He then spoke to his recovered patient, “You’re all good to go, now!”

 

“Thank you so much, mister!” Shouyou peeked around to see a young girl, even younger than Natsu, give Youth’s leg a tight hug and a bright smile. Her older friend who had been standing to the side bowed deeply and thanked him as well.

 

After Youth sent the two girls off, he turned back to Shouyou.

 

“Sorry about Daichi, Shouyou.”

 

“No, I’m sorry for asking! Daichi has a point, it was inconsiderate of me.” Shouyou shook his head quickly and bowed.

 

“It’s Memory to you, Shouyou.” Daichi said.

 

Shouyou gaped.

 

And panicked.

 

“Ahh! I’m sorry!! I didn’t mean to call you by your other name without permission!” Shouyou redirected his bow towards Memory.

 

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.” Memory chuckled and rubbed Shouyou’s head as a sign of forgiveness.

 

Shouyou straightened up and finally got a good look at the two. Turns out, Memory wasn’t as scary as Shouyou had primarily thought. His smile was friendly and brought out a certain charismatic charm. Shouyou realized that Memory’s previous stance behind him had suggested an air of dominance, but now that he was more relaxed, he looked like any average man.

 

Youth, on the other hand, was poised with amazing elegance. Although he was no match for Beauty (nobody was), he was in his own league. As his name suggested, he didn’t look a day over a billion years old, an age Shouyou himself was fast approaching. He radiated energy, the kind only being young could provide. Shouyou bargained that this man could probably heal a shattered heart with only a smile.

 

“So, what can I do for you, Shouyou?” Youth asked.

 

“I came to ask if you would take a look at my friends’ injuries, but I understand if you don’t have the time right now.”

 

“Well, I’m actually prioritizing children and high-level divine spirits at the moment.” Youth explained, “So if any of your friends fit that description, I’d be glad to see them.”

 

“Um… what age counts as a child?” Shouyou asked.

 

“I guess anybody around your age? Of course, the younger ones should get treatment first. They can’t handle pain very well.”

 

“Oh!” Shouyou grinned widely, “Then that’s perfect! Thank you!”

 

“You’re very welcome. You won’t mind if I stop sometimes to help the especially young children, do you?”

 

“No, of course not.”

 

“Well then, lead the way, Shouyou.”

 

* * *

 

“There, all better.” Youth offered his angelic smile as Koutarou twirled his foot around to test his ankle.

 

After a moment, Koutarou looked up at his fellow divine spirit and grinned, “Thanks, Koushi! I really appreciate it.”

 

“No problem, Koutarou. Be careful alright?”

 

“I will!”

 

“Thank you very much.” Keiji chimed in, relief clearly reflected in his eyes. He stood up from where he was crouching beside Koutarou to exchange a few hushed whispers with Youth and Memory off to the side. Shouyou had to look away at this point. The gathered group was shining too brilliantly that Shouyou briefly wondered if he could go blind just by watching the three. Their heavenly glow could probably rival Koutarou’s light.

 

“Shouyou.” Koutarou grabbed Shouyou’s wrist suddenly and yanked him down to his height level on the floor, “Have you heard yet?”

 

“Huh?’ Shouyou quirked his eyebrows, “What are you talking about?”

 

“Your dad just sent a team into the ballroom to scope things out.”

 

“What?” Shouyou asked helplessly, understanding nothing of the situation.

 

“Actually, two teams.” Koutarou clarified, “A rescue team and an investigation team. Most of the guests have made it out, so the rescue team’s going in to find any stuck stragglers, and the other team is trying to find out the source of this disaster.”

 

“The source?”

 

“Well, there must have been one, right? For such a huge-scale destruction to take place. You didn’t hear about this? Everybody’s talking about it.”

 

“No, I didn’t know.” Shouyou shook his head, “but thanks for telling me.”

 

Youth, Keiji, and Memory made their way back from their little huddle. Shouyou watched as Keiji pulled his boyfriend up into a standing position, “C’mon, let’s go Koutarou. I think we should get you some rest.”

 

“I’m perfectly fine, Keiji, don’t worry.”

 

“Fine, but _I_ want to get some rest after this chaotic night.”

 

Koutarou threaded their fingers together and kissed Keiji’s temple, “Whatever you want.”

 

“Thank you very much, Koushi.” Koutarou and Keiji both expressed their thanks one last time before giving a quick farewell to the others.

 

“Do you have another patient waiting to be treated?” Youth asked Shouyou.

 

“Yes, I do. He’s not far from here.”

 

The trio set off down the hallway again. As they walked, Shouyou could begin to hear snippets of drifting conversations about the teams that were sent in. Shouyou didn’t know why but the topic made him feel tense and alert. He tried to block it out.

 

“They should be right over there.” Shouyou told Youth beside him, pointing to a wall that they were approaching. Shouyou sped up the pace until he saw short, blond hair and Tadashi still nervously freaking out about Kei’s injuries.

 

“Shouyou! You’re back!” Tadashi cried out, flinging his arms around his brother’s neck.

 

Shouyou patted Tadashi’s back, “I brought Youth and Memory with me.”

 

“Oh!” Tadashi seemed to have just noticed the two other figures behind Shouyou and quickly greeted them.

 

“Can you help my boyfriend, please?” Tadashi asked Youth desperately after introductions were made.

 

“Yes, of course.”

 

“Great! Thank you so much!” Tadashi bowed deeply and hurried back to Kei’s side. He was seated on the floor, back against the wall, deep scowl painted on his face. Shouyou flinched at the murderous intent in Kei’s eyes.

 

“Kei, look, Youth’s here to help you.”

 

“Hey there.” Youth bent down in front of Kei and gestured to his legs, shards of glass still scattered about in his skin, “May I?”

 

Kei nodded and turned away as Youth got to work.

 

“Hey Tadashi.” Shouyou said, “Have you heard about dad sending teams into the ballroom? Can you tell me some more about that?”

 

“Oh yeah, I have.” Tadashi replied, “But I don’t know much about it either. I just hope they find out who was responsible.”

 

“They won’t need to look far.” Kei’s sudden contribution to the conversation made Shouyou jump, “Something like this has happened before.”

 

“Really?” Tadashi questioned, “How do you know, Kei?”

 

“Because I was there.” Kei glared at the ground intently, “It’s all that bastard’s fault. It always is.”

 

Shouyou felt goosebumps all over his skin, “Who?”

 

Kei turned his eyes on Shouyou.

 

“Tragedy’s only child, _Tobio_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow things got really intense in this chapter. I hope you enjoyed! 
> 
> On another note, my final exams are fast approaching. Because of this, updates will very likely be all over the place. But I hope you stick around until the end.


	6. Chapter 6

Shouyou blinked his eyes open groggily and stared at the blank ceiling. He slowly lifted himself up into a sitting position, his blankets bunching warmly around his waist. He scanned his room as if to confirm that _this is reality_ and that he had just woken up from last night’s literal nightmare. The room seemed as normal as ever. He went through his routine stretching and wide yawning before jumping out of bed and heading to the bathroom.

 

For breakfast, he prepared some toast. After bringing out a pan with a piece of bread on it, he conjured a little man made of fire, about the height of Shouyou’s hand. The man climbed into the pan and onto the bread.

 

Shouyou watched with amusement as the man lay down on the bread as if he were lounging on the sofa, his arms behind his head. After a few seconds, he rolled over to the right, leaving behind a slightly golden tinge. He continued doing that until the bread’s entire surface was evenly toasted. Shouyou flipped the bread to the other side so the man could repeat the process.

 

Shouyou sighed. This was probably going to be the highlight of the day: watching a burning figure of a man toast his bread for him. Not like anything exciting could ever top last night’s crazy frenzy anyways.

 

As Shouyou munched on his breakfast, he began plotting his day out. Maybe go visit Dad to see if he needed any help with tidying up. Or maybe go see how Tadashi was doing (after all, he was pretty shaken up last night). Or go play some games with his friends.

 

Or maybe he can just stay inside and waste the day away, like he always does.

 

Yup, sounds good.

 

A sudden, curt knock on the door shook him out of his reverie.

 

“Who is it?” Shouyou called from his seat at the table, too lazy to move and get the door.

 

“It’s Tobio.”

 

“Tobio?!” Shouyou dropped his toast and leapt out of his seat. He pulled the door open, staring in disbelief at the man in front of him, “How’d you get here?”

 

“Your dad told me where your room was.” Tobio fidgeted under Shouyou’s wide-eyed gape. He felt oddly uncomfortable, like his clothes were too tight and it was choking him, even though the casual clothes he had on were loose and baggy.

 

“What are you doing here?” Shouyou asked.

 

“I came to…apologize.” Tobio cleared his throat awkwardly.

 

“Apologize?”

 

“I’m sure you’ve heard, haven’t you?” Tobio looked down at Shouyou, regret and guilt swimming in his eyes. He seemed a little hesitant before he continued, “That destruction last night, the windows, the floor, the injured guests, it was all because of me. Because I couldn’t control my power.”

 

“So…it’s true?” Shouyou’s mouth fell wide open in shock. Tobio nodded grimly. “What’s going to happen to you?”

 

“I don’t know.” Tobio shook his head, “Your dad and mine are going around to everybody who was at the party to formally ask for forgiveness.”

 

“ _My_ dad? Why?”

 

“He insisted, saying it was his duty as party host.”

 

“Shouldn’t you be with them?” Shouyou questioned.

 

Tobio turned his head away, “Yes, but I wanted to stop here first.”

 

Shouyou was silent for a moment, pondering. “Why me?”

 

“Because,” Tobio looked Shouyou in the eye before leaning forward in a deep bow, a gesture of true regret and sorrow, “I ruined your night.”

 

“Huh?” Shouyou’s head involuntarily tilted to the side in confusion, “What do you mean?”

 

“You had big plans, didn’t you?” Tobio said, still facing the ground, “To find that special person.”

 

Shouyou stared at Tobio, quite surprised to find out that he was considerate enough to even remember such a thing. Shouyou was about to respond with how Tobio ruined practically _everybody’s_ night, not just his, but he stopped himself. He didn’t have to make Tobio feel even worse than he already did. Shouyou smiled affectionately at him. He had a strong urge to ruffle Tobio’s hair.

 

“I appreciate your concern, Tobio.” Shouyou said, “Even if I didn’t find that person, I’m glad I got to meet you.”

 

“You’re kidding, right?” Tobio looked at Shouyou skeptically, “How could you possibly be happy to have met me when I caused all that chaos?”

 

“Because I think that you’re probably just very misunderstood.” Shouyou grinned, “And that I got to meet the _real_ you.”

 

“You don’t know the first thing about me, Shouyou.” Tobio growled, trying to avoid looking at the other’s face.

 

“But I want to.”

 

Tobio’s face turned a light pink, “I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’ll only get hurt.”

 

“We’ll see, Tobio.” Shouyou smiled, “We’ll see.”

 

Tobio was silent for a moment, staring at his shoes. He seemed like he wanted to say something, so Shouyou waited for him to find the right words.

 

“Does this mean…that you still want to tutor me?” Tobio’s voice was quiet, maybe even shy. Shouyou wanted to squeal. He never thought he’d see Tobio being _bashful_ instead of plain anti-social and, to be honest, he thought it was adorable.

 

“Of course I do!” Shouyou laughed, “Were you really worried about that?”

 

“I thought you might’ve been scared off.” Tobio admitted, a smile of relief setting on his face, “Everyone else was.”

 

Shouyou shook his head, “I’m actually quite curious about your power. When do you want to start this tutoring business?”

 

“Preferably as soon as possible.” Tobio said.

 

“How about…” Shouyou pondered his too-busy schedule of lounging around before coming to a decision, “this afternoon? Around three?”

 

“Where do you want to meet?”

 

“Come back here and I’ll take you.” Shouyou said, plotting out the day’s events in accordance. Tobio nodded and departed. Shouyou shut the door.

 

His bread was probably cold by now.

 

* * *

 

Shouyou bolted up from his sprawled position from the couch when he heard a few knocks on the door. He flattened out the creases on the front of his shirt and swept a hand through his perpetually unruly hair. He didn’t really know why he was trying to look presentable; it was only Tobio.

 

Shouyou hurried to open the door and greet his guest. “Hi, Tobio.”

 

“Hey.” His visitor replied. At that, a sudden thought hit Shouyou so hard it almost physically hurt. _He looks pretty when he isn’t glaring._

 

Shouyou scrunched his face up in confusion, almost like he was asking his own mind for some incomprehensible answers. _What the hell was that?_

Tobio looked at him curiously. “Is something wrong?”

 

Shouyou wanted to slap himself. (He didn’t). Instead, he forced the thought from his mind with pure determination because he honestly didn’t know where that strange thought had sprung up from. Right now, he had to focus on helping out his friend in his time of need. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

“No, nothing’s wrong!” Shouyou shook his head, taking the opportunity to change the subject. “So, uh, are you done with going around to see last night’s party guests?” Shouyou asked. Tobio shook his head.

 

“My dad told me I could leave early. He said the tutoring was more important.”

 

“Well, we can’t waste any time then.” Shouyou said, slipping out through the door and into the hallway. He pulled the door shut. Shouyou beckoned Tobio to follow him as he began to walk down the dimly lit path.

 

“Where are we going?” Tobio asked, walking next to Shouyou.

 

“To my dad’s training rooms.”

 

“Training rooms?”

 

“Yeah. He’s got to have at least a thousand if I had to guess.”

 

“What training do you guys do?”

 

“Isn’t that obvious?” Shouyou laughed, “We use it to hone our powers.”

 

“You have special rooms just for that?”

 

“Well, we’ve got our reasons.” Shouyou shrugged.

 

“And what would those be?” Tobio asked.

 

Shouyou thought about how he should phrase it. “My family never stops growing. Every minute, a new brother or sister pops up. Did you know that?”

 

“Uhh…sure.” Tobio said, adding that information to the pile of strange things the Sun family did.

 

“And since the family is so big, my dad doesn’t have the time to teach _all_ of us. He felt really terrible about that, so he made these rooms so we could all gather in a familiar place together. We bond like this.”

 

“But don’t most children of divine spirits train without any guidance?”

 

“Usually, yes. But that’s awfully lonely, don’t you think?”

 

Tobio sighed, staring at the ground in front of him as he walked. “Yeah.”

 

“Ok, we’re almost there.” Shouyou pointed to a door on the right, a few meters in front of them. When he opened it, it led into another hallway. Tobio gasped.

 

“Right this way.” Shouyou smiled, observing Tobio’s wide, energetic eyes. The entire hall was a sterile white. The ceiling, hanging high over their heads, as well as the walls were blinding. Doors stretched down the hallway, blending into the white environment. There was a sudden loud crashing sound that came from a room to Tobio’s left, and he was tempted to open the door and peek in.

 

“Hey, Shouyou.”

 

“Hm?”

 

“Are you sure I’m allowed in here? This was made exclusively for your family, wasn’t it?”

 

“Don’t worry.” Shouyou waved his hand absentmindedly as he stopped in front of a door, “You’re with me.”

 

Tobio looked suspiciously at him, as if he didn’t trust that this proclamation would protect him from Sun’s (possible) wrath. Shouyou entered the room. “Ah man, this is nostalgic.”

 

“It’s just a white room.” Tobio observed as he went in as well.

 

“It holds a lot of training memories.” Shouyou grinned as images of failed attempts at controlling fire came flying back. “You have no idea how hard I trained when I was younger.”

 

“Oh? So you weren’t born gifted?”

 

“Of course not.” Shouyou smiled softly, turning to Tobio. “In fact, I happened to be quite bad at using fire in the past. Nobody had any hopes for me.”

 

Tobio averted his eyes.

 

“Well, I didn’t consider it that much of an issue at the time anyways.” Shouyou thought back to his childhood, “I just decided to work a lot harder than anybody else. Then I wouldn’t get left behind.”

 

Tobio didn’t respond, didn’t know how to. He looked around the spacious room and Shouyou followed his gaze.

 

“I chose one of the bigger rooms for your training.” Shouyou explained. “This way, we can do a lot of physical exercise without damaging anything.”

 

“Physical exercise?” Tobio looked at Shouyou, puzzled.

 

“Yeah! It’ll be a lot of fun.” Shouyou nodded, “You see, I was thinking about what happened last night and I came up with a hypothesis I want to test.”

 

“I’m going to be your test subject?” Tobio narrowed his eyes.

 

“Kinda, I guess.” Shouyou laughed. “It’s nothing bad, I promise.”

 

“What’s your hypothesis then?” Tobio couldn’t help but ask.

 

“That you lose concentration on keeping your power contained when you focus it on something like exercise.”

 

“Ah… so you figured it out.” Tobio smirked. “I didn’t expect you to think of that, all things considered.

 

“Wait, what? You mean it’s true?” Shouyou gaped, barely acknowledging the insult directed at him.

 

“Yes. It’s true. Why else would I have been refusing to dance with you so harshly last night?” Tobio shrugged like he honestly couldn’t think of a reason. “Actually, I’m not even allowed to dance. Father’s orders.”

 

“W-wait, then that means…” Shouyou visibly paled. “That means _I_ was the one who caused last night’s panic, not you! I was the one who forced you into dancing!” Shouyou’s eyes widened and his hands gestured wildly in hysteria.

 

“No, Shouyou, that’s not what I mea-“

 

“I’m _so_ sorry, Tobio!” Shouyou interrupted, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t think that my hypothesis was actually correct!”

 

“Stop it, don’t apologize.” Tobio tried desperately to calm the other boy down. “You’re overreacting! Just stay calm, Shouyou.”

 

“I’m so sorry.” Shouyou wailed, “I feel so guilty for making you go through all of that. It should have been me.”

 

Tobio took a big breath before grabbing Shouyou’s shoulders forcefully. Shouyou made a sound that resembled a high-pitched squeak as he looked at Tobio in shock.

 

“Shut up. You are not responsible for what happened last night. Everything was my fault. It only happened because of my incompetence.” Tobio stared into Shouyou’s distraught eyes. “Do you understand?”

 

Shouyou hesitantly nodded.

 

“Don’t blame yourself. Okay?” Tobio smiled, hoping to alleviate Shouyou’s wild thoughts. Shouyou nodded once more. “Okay then. So…now that you’ve stopped freaking out, why don’t you tell me about our training schedule?”

 

“We’re uh…” Shouyou’s voice faded as he quickly realized that he was still being held in place by Tobio’s hands and that his face was _really_ close. He could feel an uncomfortable warmth trailing up his neck.

 

“Um!” Shouyou stepped back and freed himself from Tobio’s grasp, his movement rigid. Tobio gave him an odd look but didn’t question it. Shouyou took a deep breath before speaking, “We’re going to make you lose control of your power on purpose.”

 

Tobio blinked once. Twice. “Excuse me?”

 

“Yeah. I’m going to make you run around and be active.”

 

“This is going to be a disaster.” Tobio sighed roughly, his fingers rubbing his temple as if predicting the oncoming headache. “Don’t you realize how stupid of an idea that is?”

 

“Don’t be like that!” Shouyou grinned, already back to his normal behavior.

 

“Please, tell me how this will help me in _any_ way.” Tobio said gruffly.

 

“It’ll help in the long term.” Shouyou reassured him, “I’m a firm believer in that the more you do something, the better you’ll get.”

 

“I’m not here to get better at running around.”

 

“That’s not the point, Tobio!” Shouyou racked his brain to explain his idea in a simpler way. “Look, it’s like this. You’re going to focus on doing something active as well as trying to control your power at the same time.”

 

Tobio put his hand on his hip, giving Shouyou a dubious look.

 

“You won’t be good at it at first, I know,” Shouyou said, “But you’ll get the hang of it in no time. By the time we’re done, keeping your power under control will be second nature to you and you won’t have to think about it when you do physical exercise anymore.”

 

“I guess…there’s some kind of logic in that.” Tobio admitted. “Will it really work?”

 

“Of course it will. It’s what all of us have had to go through when we’re younger. It just so happens that you’re doing it a little later. Trust me, it works.”

 

“But what about actually _using_ my power? Will you teach me that too?”

 

“This is just a start. One at a time, Tobio.” Shouyou smiled widely, “So how about it? Are you ready?

 

Tobio looked at him, still slightly suspicious, but nodded anyway. Shouyou beamed. “Great! Let’s do this!”

 

“Uh…” Tobio took a tentative step back. “What _exactly_ are we doing?”

 

“Warm-up.” Shouyou said, beginning his usual stretching routine. “C’mon, Tobio. Just do what I do.”

 

“I know how to do warm-ups, Shouyou.” Tobio scowled without any actual malice. He bent down and also began to stretch. The two were soon finished after completing their stretches and a couple of laps around the room.

 

“That was pretty easy.” Tobio said, barely panting. “Nothing bad happened, so I’m counting that as a success.”

 

“Are you kidding me?” Shouyou smiled, “We’ve barely started.”

 

“What’s next then?” Tobio grinned as well, happy for a challenge.

 

Shouyou took a few steps back from Tobio and twirled his index finger in the air. A tiny flame sparked into life on his fingertip and it gradually grew into a ball the size of his head. The surface smoothed out so, from far away, it looked like any regular red ball.

 

Once the ball was done forming, it dropped into the palm of Shouyou’s hand. “I’m going to introduce you to a game I invented with my siblings.”

 

“Please don’t tell me that I’m going to have to touch that.” Tobio cringed.

 

“Well…not exactly.” Shouyou tossed it around from hand to hand. “Let me explain.”

 

“My siblings and I named this game ‘volleyball’. You’ll see why if we ever get to play a real game. However, I’m just going to be teaching you the basics. We’re going to start with something called ‘receiving’. Here, get into this position.” Shouyou lowered himself down into a half-squat, his arms extended and hands grasped together, ball on the ground. Tobio copied his movements.

 

“Now watch closely.” Shouyou picked up the ball, tossed it into the air, and quickly returned to his previous stance. When the ball came back down, Shouyou bumped it back into the air with his forearms. “That’s called a ‘receive’.”

 

“It doesn’t look particularly difficult.” Tobio remarked, still in position. Shouyou shrugged.

 

“I actually suck at receiving, but I’m going to let you try it.” Shouyou got the ball from the floor, smiling at Tobio’s doubtful expression. “Oh! One more piece of advice: when you receive the ball, don’t move your arms, move your whole body in the direction you want the ball to go. Don’t forget that, it’s very important.”

 

“Wait wait wait.” Tobio stood back up, waving his hands frantically, “I’m sure _you’re_ fine with touching bare fire like that, but _I_ certainly don’t want to burn my arms off.”

 

“Don’t worry about that.” Shouyou laughed, “I’ve manipulated it so that you’ll barely feel any heat at first. However, one rule of the game is that you can’t hold the ball for more than a second at a time. So, to enforce that, you’ll start feeling the heat if you hold it for too long.” Shouyou grinned slyly.

 

“What?!” Tobio glared. “Shouldn’t you have told me that first?”

 

“Don’t be a wuss, Tobio.” Shouyou threw the ball towards the other boy. “Into position!”

 

“Ah! Dumbass, I’m not ready!” Tobio scrambled to get it. The ball made impact with his arms and he flung it back into the air quickly for fear that he would accidentally get burned.

 

“Not like that! I told you to move your whole body, not just your arms.” Shouyou scolded. He retrieved the ball that had flown off-course. “And make sure you direct the ball back towards me.”

 

“I wasn’t ready.” Tobio sulked.

 

Shouyou sighed. “Well hurry up. Concentrate this time.”

 

Tobio tensed at the mention of that word. He shook his head, his eyes focused on the ball. “Ready.”

 

Shouyou threw the ball once again. When Tobio successfully received it back to Shouyou’s general vicinity, Shouyou felt a bit of pride bloom in his chest. _This must be what parents feel like._

“That was great!” Shouyou nodded approvingly. “You’re form was better this time, but try to aim the ball back to me.”

 

“Alright.” Shouyou saw a hidden smile on Tobio’s face. Shouyou picked up the ball and tossed it.

 

“Ah, sorry! That was a little off!” Shouyou called, seeing that the ball was heading to the right of Tobio.

 

Tobio quickly sidestepped to receive it gracefully, bumping it back to Shouyou’s outstretched hands.

 

“Wow, I wasn’t expecting you to actually ge-“ Before Shouyou could catch the ball it erupted into a roaring blaze, catching Shouyou by surprise. The sound of the explosion was deafening as reds and oranges swirled around him. Shouyou clutched at his ears so the initial shock would go away. When the ringing in his ears had stopped and it was safe to let go, Shouyou frowned, snapped his fingers and the fire subsided.

 

Now that the fire wasn’t covering his line of sight anymore, Shouyou could see Tobio’s stunned expression from a few meters away. “It’s alright now, I’m okay.” Shouyou called out. Tobio advanced slowly.

 

“Um…” He began, “I think that was my fault.”

 

“I figured.” Shouyou said, brushing himself down.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“I’m perfectly fine. My own fire can’t possibly hurt me.” Shouyou waved a dismissive hand.

 

“I’m sorry. You’re the only one in here and I think my power picked you as a target.” Tobio cast his eyes down guiltily.

 

“Don’t apologize, I was expecting it.” Shouyou smiled gently, “I guess we just have more work to do.”

 

* * *

 

“One more time, I think you’re getting it!” Shouyou exclaimed cheerfully. It had already been a grueling two hours of doing the same thing over and over again, but Shouyou was positive that Tobio was starting to improve.

 

They bounced the ball back and forth for a little while before Tobio eventually lost the rhythm and missed. Even so, Tobio grinned; that had been their longest rally yet. The rigorous training left him panting for air but, frankly, he couldn’t care less. Tobio turned to the shorter boy to see his reaction but was suddenly knocked down by the force of Shouyou’s tackling hug. “Tobio, that was great! You did so well, I’m so proud of you!”

 

“You’re crushing me.” Tobio growled, swatting at Shouyou’s arms wrapped tightly around his torso. His cheeks were dusted a light pink from the high praise and exercise, but it’s not like Shouyou needed to know about the former.

 

“You’ve made such good progress today.” Shouyou beamed. “How about we finish up and continue tomorrow?”

 

Tobio sat up, grunting against the weight on him. “Sure. But why don’t you get off of me first, you idiot.”

 

Shouyou scoffed, “I do all this for you and you treat me like this?” He tried looking stern, but burst into a fit of giggles, “C’mon, let’s go then.” Shouyou crawled off of the taller boy and stood up. He held out his hand to pull Tobio up.

 

“Uh…” Tobio began as the two started their final stretches, “Are you sure we can leave the room like this?”

 

Shouyou looked around him. A rather large, jagged fissure was open in the ground and several scorch marks were apparent on the walls. The ceiling was barely visible from the thin plume of smoke gathered up there. In one area, the burns were so bad that the wall had turned completely black. A small fire was raging in the corner of the room, almost like Shouyou had put it there as time-out for bad behavior. “Sure. I don’t see why not.”

 

“This place is a disaster.” Tobio said, touching his toes.

 

“That’s okay, these rooms have seen worse.” Shouyou shrugged.

 

Tobio stretched his arms up. “And you’re sure you don’t mind my life-attempts on you?”

 

Shouyou laughed loudly, “It’s perfectly fine. I’ll try my best to not get injured too badly.”

 

Tobio looked at him, his eyebrows furrowed. “I’m serious, Shouyou. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

 

“And I _won’t_.” Shouyou insisted. “Are you done? Let’s go, shall we?”

 

Tobio nodded, following Shouyou to the door. Their footsteps echoed down the long hallway.

 

“I’ll walk you back.” Tobio said. Shouyou shook his head.

 

“You really don’t have to.”

 

The black-haired boy grinned down at his companion. “But I want to.” Shouyou’s eyes widened and he began spluttering as his face heated up immediately. He kept his eyes forward so he wouldn’t have to look at Tobio’s somewhat smug smile. The trip back was silent.

 

When they arrived at Shouyou’s room, they said their goodbyes at the doorway. “So I’ll… see you tomorrow.” Shouyou said nervously.

 

“Yeah.” Tobio smiled softly, “I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is finally up!! I know, I know, I haven’t been sticking to the weekly updates and I feel incredibly sorry for those of you who were waiting for it. Let me explain: the past few weeks have been really hectic. The end of school was fast approaching and so many assignments were due all at once. I had to write two separate historical fiction stories for two different classes, on top of my finals. I spent most of my time studying. However, a week before my finals, I had to fly out of the country to go attend my brother’s graduation ceremony (and therefore miss a few days of school). It was fun and all, but while I was there I was under constant stress about all the work I still had to do. Then, add on the severe writer’s block I’ve been having. Oh, it’s been crazy! And a very stressful few weeks. I don’t mean to say that all this work is an excuse to ignore writing, but it did keep me really busy. I hope you understand.  
> However, EXAMS ARE OVER and I finally have as much time as I want to write!! I’m so excited to get back to it. For now, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm sorry if it's all over the place and a bit rushed, though... (And if you actually read all of this, I congratulate you.)


	7. Chapter 7

Quiet echoes of soft thuds resonated in the room as the ball of fire fell to the ground and bounced away. Tobio swept a hand over his forehead to wipe away beads of sweat. He breathed deeply, trying to gulp in as much air as possible. Shouyou, a couple of meters in front of him, flashed him a wide grin.

 

“You’ve made some amazing progress in just a few weeks.”

 

Tobio nodded silently. He was still getting used to the daily praise thing that accompanied Shouyou’s lessons. Shouyou ran to get the fireball before returning. He spun it a few times in his hand. He quirked his eyebrows in a way that Tobio had finally deduced to mean ‘ _Are you ready?’_ , which Tobio responded with a nod. Shouyou threw the ball high into the air.

 

Tobio inhaled through his nose, and exhaled through his mouth, something Shouyou had instructed him to do to regulate his breathing and heart rate. He raised his hands above his head, eyes constantly on the ball as it hurled towards him. Inhale. Exhale. With his fingers lightly spread out, he made contact with the ball and shot it back up.

 

When Shouyou had first introduced the idea of ‘setting’ to Tobio, he had seemed strangely connected to it. As if the very motion was etched into his bones. He felt that controlling the ball was much more logical when he could use his hands, not just one area of his arm. Needless to say, Tobio enjoyed it more than receiving.

 

The ball landed safely back in Shouyou’s arms.

 

“Tobio.” Shouyou threw the ball, repeating the drill, “Can I ask a favor?”

 

“What is it?” He set it back.

 

“I need you to meet me somewhere tomorrow.” Shouyou caught the ball, but didn’t throw it again. He tucked it under his arm instead. Tobio furrowed his eyebrows, tilted his head, asking a silent question.

 

“In front of Kei’s room.”

 

Tobio made a face, somewhere between disgust and nausea. “Why do I have to come so close to that walking freezer?”

 

“I have something special planned.”

 

“If it has something to do with him, I don’t want to be a part of it.”

 

“Just do it. Please?”

 

Tobio sighed, avoiding Shouyou’s widened eyes and pouty lips. “Fine.”

 

Shouyou perked up immediately. “Great! And make sure you wear warm clothes.” Tobio narrowed his eyes at him. He was being oddly suspicious, but Tobio decided to not question it any further. Knowing Shouyou, he would want to keep it a surprise.

 

When they left later that day, Shouyou reminded Tobio incessantly about the location, time, and attire. When Tobio had finally convinced the other boy that _yes, he knew where to go_ , did Shouyou finally depart with a spring in his step.

 

* * *

 

“Why are you late?” Tobio tapped his foot impatiently. Shouyou panted, regaining his breath.

 

“I’m sorry! I got lost.” Shouyou nervously smiled, breathing hard.

 

“Have you come here before?”

 

“Yes, I have.” Shouyou admitted, “But I just wasn’t paying attention to where I was going this time, and then I found myself in some strange hallway I’d never been in before. You have _no_ idea how hard it was to find this place again.”

 

Tobio didn’t look impressed. “Why are you wearing so many layers? It must be really hot under all that.”

 

“What about you?” Shouyou surveyed Tobio’s outfit. “I don’t think you wore enough.”

 

“Well, it would have been helpful to know where we’re going.” Tobio crossed his arms. He glanced at the door in front of him. “What are we doing here? Did you invite Kei as well?” He didn’t look happy about the idea.

 

“No, we’re not going anywhere with Kei. We’re just passing through.” And with that, Shouyou lifted his fist and knocked on the door confidently. They heard a thump, thump, thump of footsteps before the door was opened. Beyond it, Kei appeared surprised at his unexpected guests and he peered at them curiously.

 

“What are _you_ doing here?” He attempted to hold back his sneer.

 

Tobio bit back his own irritated remark as the taller blond stared down at them. Shouyou, on the other hand, was looking Kei up and down. He was dressed semi-formally with a pair of form-fitting jeans and a blazer over a plain shirt. Shouyou smirked.

 

“Ohoho? Let me guess.” His smile widened. “Date night?” Kei looked at him indifferently. Shouyou had to squint to see a light blush fall on his cheeks.

 

“Explain why you’re here or I’m shutting the door.”

 

“Okay, okay.” Shouyou held up his hands in surrender, “Can you take us to Victoria, please?”

 

There was a silence between them as Kei contemplated the idea of having to escort these two bumbling idiots. Tobio slapped the back of Shouyou’s head.

 

“Who the hell is Victoria?” He whispered furiously, feeling frustrated because he still had no idea what was going on. Shouyou rubbed the back of his head, glaring at the dark-haired boy.

 

Kei finally came to a decision and stepped back from the entrance. He beckoned his two visitors forward into his room. Shouyou grinned widely, skipping in easily as if it was his own place. “Thanks, Kei!” Tobio walked in tentatively.

 

“Over here.” Kei walked down a set of stairs, the other two boys following closely. At the bottom of the stairs, he pushed open a large door and a cold gust of wind swept over them. Kei strained to fully open the heavy steel door.

 

Tobio rubbed his arm to warm himself up. Maybe Shouyou had been right to assume that he wore too little. Tobio peeked over Shouyou’s orange mop of hair and into the newly opened room. He was surprised to see a narrow hallway. The walls were covered in a thin layer of frost and it was strangely dark, even with the fully functioning lights on the ceiling.

 

The group made its way in. Shouyou was ecstatic, positively bursting with excitement. Tobio was trying his best to ignore the cold seeping into his shoes. At the end of the hallway was a mirror, also covered with frost.

 

“Look familiar?” Shouyou asked Tobio. He nodded.

 

“The mirrors at the party.”

 

“Yup! But these are slightly different.” Shouyou couldn’t hold back his smile, “Just watch.”

 

Kei raised his hand as Tobio looked on, perplexed. He started drawing on the mirror with his finger. He began with a straight line and then added a semicircle on top of it. He drew several jagged lines inside the arch that were connected to the first line and pointed towards the curve of the circle. Tobio tried to figure out what it meant.

 

When Kei was done with the strange symbol, he put his hand over it, flat on the mirror. A moment later, an image formed. The landscape was completely white and serene. Tobio felt the hallway they were standing in drop a few degrees in temperature. He wrapped his arms around his body, hoping to conserve some heat.

 

Kei took his hand away and stepped to the side. Tobio was slightly shocked to see that the image had not disappeared. However, he didn’t have a lot of time to gawk at it. Shouyou’s hand was suddenly on his arm and pulling.

 

“Let’s go, Tobio!” Shouyou stepped _into_ the mirror and successfully dragged Tobio through with him. Tobio stumbled as his feet planted firmly in freezing snow. He gasped as a sudden wind stole his breath away. He whipped around to see Kei, still standing in the hallway behind him.

 

“Call me when you’re back.”

 

Tobio walked around the image. There was nothing behind it, just more snowy ground. He could see Shouyou on the other side, as if Kei and the hallway weren’t even there. He walked back around.

 

Looking at Kei was a little disconcerting, as the image didn’t have a border, only wavering edges. Tobio stuck his hand out at the blond. Kei slapped it harshly and Tobio quickly retracted it.

 

“The mirror is closing.” Kei hissed. “Do you _want_ to lose your hand?”

 

Tobio was about to respond when suddenly, the image was gone. Tobio blinked at it, and a pile of snow stared back. “Shouyou, what the hell.”

 

“Were you surprised?” Shouyou grinned.

 

“What just happened?” Tobio put his hand on his hip, determined to get some answers.

 

“Those mirrors can teleport us. Pretty cool, huh?”

 

“If these mirrors were so useful, why didn’t I know about them before?”

 

“Because only Blizzard’s family can use them. One of his daughters invented it based off of those kinds of mirrors from the party. They’re only used to transport people to ice planets.”

 

Tobio seemed puzzled. _If she invented this, why can’t she just tweak it so it could take you anywhere? What the hell?_

 

“Okay…then what was that thing he drew?”

 

“The symbol for this particular planet. It tells the mirror where we want to go.”

 

Tobio pinched the bridge of his nose, absorbing the information. _Doesn’t that mean that all of Blizzard’s kids have to memorize these symbols? This is so inefficient._ He was about to voice this thought to Shouyou but another chill breeze blew by and he suddenly remembered that they were standing shin-deep in snow on _a giant rock entirely covered by ice_. Tobio wrapped his arms around himself and glared at Shouyou. “So, why did you bring me here?”

 

“Training!”

 

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Tobio sighed, but it came out more like a fed up groan. His legs were definitely going numb.

 

“Are you cold?” Shouyou asked, concern etched into his tone.

 

“Am I _cold_? Shouyou, how dense do you have to be to not know the answer to that question?” Tobio huffed, too uncomfortable to reach out and slap the other boy for fear he’d lose his own body heat.

 

“I’m just trying to help!” Shouyou insisted. He quickly scanned their surroundings. A bit of snow had begun to fall and Tobio hoped with all his heart that a snowstorm wouldn’t occur.

 

“I’ve got an idea.” Shouyou declared, turning back to face Tobio.

 

“Have you been using your head, now?” Tobio jeered, “That’s got to be pretty dangerous for the likes of you.”

 

Shouyou ignored his comment, knowing full well that it was only due to Tobio’s snow-induced grumpiness. “I’ll race you up that hill.”

 

Tobio followed Shouyou’s pointed finger to a heavily blanketed rise in the ground a small distance away. He was about to decline but Shouyou took off before he could voice it.

 

Shouyou looked back but didn’t see the taller boy running after him. “Tobio, are you some kind of coward?!” Shouyou shouted with a smile, feet pounding into the snow as he made his way towards the hill. Tobio was chasing him before he knew it.

 

“You dumbass! Wait till I catch you!” Tobio yelled, putting as much spite in his threat as possible. He heard Shouyou’s loud, chirpy laugh in response.

 

Tobio’s breath puffed into the frigid air, his legs feeling weirdly like frozen jelly. As the two boys reached the incline, they both slowed dramatically. Even so, Tobio couldn’t catch up fast enough, the wet snow weighing heavily on his feet.

 

When they finally cleared the top, Shouyou threw his arms triumphantly into the air, “I win! I win!” Tobio clicked his tongue.

 

“You got a head start.”

 

Shouyou chuckled. “I didn’t know you were such a sore loser, Tobio.”

 

“Doesn’t change the fact that you cheated.” Tobio crossed his arms. “What was the point of this race anyways?”

 

“You were cold, right? I just thought that running might warm us up a little.” Shouyou seemed proud to have thought of the idea. Tobio avoided eye contact, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of his confirmation. It was true; Tobio _did_ feel a little warmer, though they were still out standing in the wind and snow.

 

“I know a cave around here.” Shouyou said. “Follow me.”

 

Tobio was hesitant, not sure if staying still or walking would make him colder. However, the thought of being left behind spurred him forward. He walked by Shouyou’s side.

 

“Hey, Shouyou.”

 

“Hm?” The shorter boy looked up at the mention of his name.

 

“Why couldn’t we just stay in the white room to train?”

 

Shouyou thought about it before he answered, “I guess you could say it’s for educational purposes. You need to be able to handle realistic situations, should they ever occur. You won’t always be in that white room.”

 

“But is something like that really going to happen _here_?” Tobio was skeptical.

 

Shouyou shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. But you should always be prepared.”

 

“So…I’m assuming that we could have gone literally anywhere for today? And you picked an _ice planet_?”

 

“Quit complaining. It’s a nice place.” Shouyou pouted. “We’ll be back to normal tomorrow, so just bear with me.”

 

“Whatever you say.”

 

They walked in silence for a couple minutes before they arrived at the cave entrance. The air howled around them as Tobio stared at the scene. Wildly arranged stalagmites reached desperately for their counterpart hanging on the ceiling. The sunlight from outside, reflected on many icy surfaces, kept the interior of the cave well lit. A bluish-purple hue stained the walls and a constant rhythm of drip, drip, dripping water echoed from within.

 

“Look at this place!” Shouyou beamed. “Isn’t it _beautiful?”_ His gaze wandered around, completely in awe at the glittering ice. Tobio hummed agreement. He had to admit it: it was quite an impressive view.

 

“Is this where Victoria lives?” Tobio asked, thinking back to Shouyou’s conversation with Kei. Shouyou gave him a questioning look.

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“You asked Kei to take us to Victoria.” Tobio clarified. “So where is she?”

 

“Ohhh!” Shouyou thought about it before bursting out laughing. He shook his head furiously. “Victoria isn’t a person, Tobio.”

 

“Hah?” Tobio was starting to get irritated by Shouyou’s high-pitched voice. Shouyou wiped tears from his eyes.

 

“Victoria is the name of the planet!” This sent Shouyou into another round of giggling, as if mistaking the name ‘Victoria’ for a person was unthinkable. Tobio glared at him, tempted to grab his orange head and shake.

 

“Blizzard names all of his planets, y’know?” Shouyou said, voice bubbly from laughter. “This one’s Victoria and my other favorite is named Liana. Don’t you think they’re lovely names?”

 

“I didn’t know that these planets had names. That seems almost childish.” Tobio commented.

 

“Do you want to know the name of the one you were looking at the night of the party?” Shouyou asked, bouncing on his feet in excitement.

 

“…Sure.” Tobio looked at him with amusement.

 

“Her name’s Kiko! So make sure you address her properly next time!” Shouyou instructed.

 

“Okay, duly noted.” Tobio shivered from the cold. “Now are we gonna go into the cave or risk being buried by snow?”

 

“Yayy!” Shouyou raced in, “Let’s explore!”

 

“Slow down!” Tobio scolded, trailing after him like a worn out parent.

 

Shouyou turned around and pouted at him. “You’re no fun, Tobio.”

 

“We’re not here to have fun.” He remarked. In the end, Shouyou slowed down so he could walk by Tobio’s side as they moved further into the cave. The silence between them was only broken by the sound of their footsteps and dripping water.

 

“Shouyou, are we actually going to do something useful on this planet?” Tobio spoke up.

 

“What, tired of exploring caves already?” Shouyou teased.

 

“Just answer the question.”

 

Shouyou chuckled softly, “Okay, I’ll admit it. I didn’t have training planned for today. I just had a random urge to visit Victoria with you.” He hesitantly looked at Tobio, “Is it not fun after all?”

 

Tobio seemed uncertain how to respond, but he knew he _really_ disliked Shouyou’s crestfallen expression. “It’s fun. Being here with you, I mean.” His cheeks involuntarily reddened and Tobio turned away to try to hide it. Before he had done so, he saw Shouyou’s face light up with happiness. Tobio breathed a sigh of relief for choosing the right (albeit embarrassing) thing to say.

 

“I’m glad you think that, Tobio.” Shouyou grinned. “You should take it as a break, too. You’ve definitely earned it for working so hard.”

 

The two of them eventually found a place to settle down and relax. Tobio had let Shouyou choose, which he later regrets when he sees what the orange-haired shorty had decided on.

 

The path through the cave that they had been following opened up to a large cavernous area. The ceiling was high above their heads and the other side was a long way away. The thing was, the path involved descending a rather slippery slope to the floor of the cavern to continue, almost like a small hill inside the cave. And of all the places Shouyou could have picked, he chose to sit _right on the edge_ of the slope.

 

“Are you out of your mind?” Tobio sighed.

 

“C’mon, sit! It’s not that cold.” Shouyou patted the ice beside him.

 

“That’s not the problem here.”

 

“Well, I don’t see _any_ problems with this so just sit.” Shouyou yanked on Tobio’s wrist until he carefully seated himself.

 

“Look at this place, Tobio!” Shouyou smiled, holding his arms out almost like he could hug the scenery. Tobio nodded, fighting his own smile.

 

“I see it, I see it. You don’t have to tell me every time.”

 

“It’s so sparkly! I’ve seen this probably dozens of times but It’s always more gorgeous than the last.” Shouyou leaned forward to observe the flashes of blue and purple light of gleaming ice on the opposite side of the cavern. “Man, I could never get tired of this vie-AH!” Shouyou suddenly yelped as he lost his balance and slid forward, hands scrambling to grab a hold of something.

 

“Shouyou!” Tobio instantly dived after him and grabbed his shoulder, hoping he could somehow drag him back up. However, he misjudged his speed and accidentally crashed into Shouyou, sending the both of them tumbling down the hill.

 

Shouyou felt Tobio hug him tightly, using his whole body to curl around him in an effort to shield him from harm. Still, Shouyou received a few bumps on his head on the way down and his eyesight was blurry even after they had stopped at the bottom.

 

“Ow ow ow,” Shouyou rubbed the back of his head painfully, closing his eyes so he wouldn’t have to feel so dizzy. His limbs ached and his back hurt immensely. He felt something shift under him. A groan that Shouyou was sure was not his own sounded out and his eyes snapped open.

 

Shouyou gasped. “Tobio, are you okay?!” Lying under him, flat on the ice floor, was Tobio groaning with pain, barely conscious. Shouyou flinched when he noticed the wound on Tobio’s temple. The ice behind his head was beginning to stain red from the blood.

 

Shouyou reached out tentatively to see the damage. Tobio shook his head, hoping to shoo him away. He ended up having to shut his eyes to stop the dull throbbing. “Don’t worry about me. It’s just a small gash.”

 

Shouyou looked at him dubiously, at his face contorted with pain. Brushing a few strands of hair away, Shouyou could clearly see the cut, a few droplets of blood seeping out. He was about to move and grab something to bandage it with when Tobio spoke up.

 

“What about you?” The last thing Shouyou expected Tobio to do was reach up and cup his hand behind Shouyou’s head, inspecting for injuries. The action caused Shouyou’s head to tilt forward involuntarily, bringing him dangerously close to the other boy’s face. Tobio didn’t seem to notice, focused only on the task at hand.

 

Shouyou’s face was immediately red. He was sure the inside of his brain had popped a fuse of some kind. He cursed his heart because he really didn’t need the stuttering and stopping at the moment. Tobio’s breath ghosted over his face and Shouyou had to refrain from flinching. There was no way Tobio couldn’t notice how warm his face was getting. He was practically burning, even though they were literally lying on the ice floor.

 

Shouyou remembered the position they were in and the thought almost ended him. He could feel Tobio’s steady heartbeat under his hand and every movement he made from the way Shouyou was straddling his waist. Shouyou feared he might pass out.

 

“Well, it doesn’t seem like you got hurt that ba-“ Tobio stopped short. Shouyou would give him a confused look had he not been so preoccupied with trying not to faint. Tobio pulled his hand back quickly, eyes widened. “Sh-“

 

Tobio suddenly scooted back fiercely, throwing Shouyou off-balance. “Shouyou! Your hair is on fire!”

 

“Eh?” Shouyou gave him a blank look. He reached up to his head and a small flame licked at his hand. He hadn’t noticed it since the heat had matched the temperature of his face so nicely. However, Shouyou wasn’t alarmed like Tobio was. If anything, he was even more embarrassed.

 

Shouyou flushed a deeper red.

 

“Stop it!” Tobio squawked. “Why is it getting bigger?!”

 

Tobio swatted at Shouyou’s head in an attempt to put it out. “Ow, that hurts! Tobio, stop!” Shouyou tried to push Tobio’s hand away and noticed a small flicker on the other boy’s sleeve. Shouyou moved away quickly. “Your sweater is catching on fire, stop!”

 

“Ahh!” Tobio screamed, removing his hand from Shouyou.

 

The two boys quickly stumbled to their feet at this new panic. Tobio put his free hand on his throbbing head and frantically shook the other one, hoping it could extinguish by itself. Shouyou simultaneously tried helping out and calming down at the same time so the fire could go away. Blood trailed down the side of Tobio’s face and Shouyou eyed it warily.

 

“Tobio, don’t move around so much. You need to get treated.”

 

“I’m a little busy trying not to get burned here!”

 

Shouyou was about to fret some more when they suddenly felt a slight rumble. Small bits of ice from the ceiling fell and Shouyou moved to avoid a block of ice falling on his head. He scanned his surroundings.

 

The rumbling came again, much more intense than the last. The icicles around them began shaking and the ice beneath them cracked. Shouyou’s eyes widened, thinking to himself that the situation was too scarily familiar.

 

“Tobio, run!” Shouyou grabbed the other’s frozen frame and wrenched him into action. The two boys sprinted towards the exit, following the path. The cracking ice chased after them and they almost slipped multiple times from how shaky the ground was getting. They heard a thundering crash behind them as the cave collapsed into itself.

 

They finally broke out into the open after running and weaving around trembling stalagmites, the overhead icicles threatening to fall on them. Half a minute later, the rumbling had stopped and all was eerily quiet again. Shouyou gulped in as much cold air as possible. Next to him, Tobio was panting hard.

 

“I don’t get it.”

 

“Huh?” Shouyou glanced at Tobio, not understanding what he meant.

 

“Why couldn’t I control my power? I’ve been getting better, haven’t I?” Tobio leaned forward and put his hands on his knees, glaring hard at the white snow. “So why?”

 

“I…” Shouyou didn’t know how to respond. “I don’t know.” He looked away from Tobio’s distressed aura. A tense silence stretched between the two.

 

“My head hurts.”

 

Shouyou let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “Let’s go back.”

 

Before they set off again, Shouyou ripped off a strip of his shirt fabric, a hard task considering the thickness of all his clothing. “Come here, Tobio.” The other boy begrudgingly obeyed, lowering his head so Shouyou could gingerly wrap the strip around his head.

 

“That should do it.”

 

Shouyou led the way to where they originally came. The falling snow was covering the footprints they left behind and Tobio was afraid that Shouyou wouldn’t be able to find his way back. When he finally came to a stop and declared that they had arrived, Tobio was both slightly relieved and surprised.

 

“How can you tell?” Tobio asked.

 

“You can feel it in the air.” Shouyou smiled. “Like this very spot is giving out a sort of magical signature.”

 

“So…” Tobio was at a loss, “What are we supposed to do now?”

 

“Kei! Kei, are you there?” Tobio jumped a bit when Shouyou suddenly called out into the vastness of the snowy scenery. Tobio looked at him oddly. Shouyou huffed. “Kei!”

 

A second later, the air in front of them flickered and an image appeared. “Shut up already.” Kei’s glaring eyes greeted them on the other side. Shouyou stepped through and Tobio trailed after him.

 

“I heard a loud noise. What the hell happened to you two?” Kei asked, although his unconcerned expression contradicted his words.

 

Shouyou responded with his own question. “What happened to date night?”

 

“You came back pretty fast. I didn’t get the chance to leave and abandon you yet.”

 

“Haha.” Shouyou said sarcastically. “Say hi to Tadashi for me.”

 

* * *

 

“You didn’t have to escort me home, Shouyou.”

 

“Too bad, I did it anyways.” Shouyou closed the door behind him and made sure Tobio sat down. “Who else was going to make sure you got back safe?”

 

“I can handle things myself.” Tobio said as a matter-of-factly, watching Shouyou bustle around the place from his place on the couch.

 

“Do you have any proper medication around here?” Shouyou asked, opening all kinds of drawers.

 

“Over there.” Tobio pointed to a kitchen cupboard. Shouyou found it immediately and brought it over to the coffee table. He sat down beside Tobio.

 

“I can do it.” Tobio said, surprised to see Shouyou reaching inside the medicine box and bringing out the required items.

 

“Let me.”

 

Shouyou unwrapped Tobio’s makeshift bandage and brought up a dampened cloth to his wound. He wiped at it until the towel had soaked up most of the blood. After, he dipped a ball of cotton into some rubbing alcohol and dabbed at the gash carefully. Tobio tried to conceal his slight winces.

 

“I’ve been thinking about what happened back there.” Shouyou started.

 

“Hm?” Tobio looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

 

“It wasn’t your fault.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Well,” Shouyou nervously chuckled, “It was my fault in the first place for slipping…”

 

“You’re not wrong about that.” Tobio agreed.

 

“And then when you caught on fire, I panicked.”

 

“It’s not your fault for panicking.” Tobio tilted his head like he was confused, “I mean, anyone would’ve panicked.”

 

“I suppose.” Shouyou hummed, “But I shouldn’t have done so in front of you.”

 

Tobio furrowed his eyebrows.

 

“No student likes to see their instructor so uncertain.” Shouyou looked at Tobio apologetically. “And maybe that unsettled you, or made you lose confidence in your training.”

 

“I don’t blame you for that.” Tobio grabbed Shouyou’s wrist to still his movements. He turned his head to fully face him. “And I don’t think you should blame yourself.”

 

Shouyou looked away, trying to ignore the burning feeling on his wrist. “Who else is there?”

 

Tobio let go and turned to face forward again. Shouyou returned to cleaning the wound. “Let’s share the blame.” Tobio’s voice was unusually soft.

 

When Shouyou finished, he neatly bandaged Tobio’s head with gauze, making sure not to tie it too tightly. He stood back up and put the medicine box back in the cupboard. Tobio’s voice piped from behind him.

 

“Shouyou, I have a question.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“How did your hair suddenly catch on fire anyways?”

 

Shouyou tensed and his face turned a light pink. He attempted to look busy placing the things away so he wouldn’t have to turn around and make eye contact. “It uh…” Well it’s not like he could _just admit_ that he was extremely embarrassed about being so close to the other boy’s face, and _especially_ since that feeling came with a shockingly strong urge to kiss him. That would freak Tobio out even more than the collapsing cave.

 

Shouyou’s head raced to find an answer. “It…was nothing!” He chuckled timidly, “Happens all the time.”

 

Shouyou could practically see Tobio’s narrowed eyes, even without having to turn around. “What are you not telling me?”

 

“Look, you don’t have to worry about it.” Shouyou attempted to appear nonchalant as he strode across the living room towards the door. “I really should be going, though.”

 

He turned to face the other and smiled, waving at Tobio’s baffled face. “Thanks for coming with me today. I’ll see you at the usual place.” He twisted the doorknob and stepped out into the hallway.

 

“Wait, Shouyou-“

 

“Until tomorrow!” Shouyou said farewell quickly and pulled the door shut after him.

 

The hallway was just as dim as ever. He took a deep breath and sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I blush SUPER easily. Sometimes when I’m not even embarrassed. My friends are always asking me, like, “why are you blushing?” and I could probably be doing my homework or something. It’s honestly very troublesome. I cri
> 
> And when I’m actually embarrassed, it’s the worst thing!! My face gets really red and too warm and sometimes it’s like I’m on fire. Thus, that scene with Shouyou’s hair catching on fire. I relate to it on a spiritual level. 
> 
> Anyways, thank you for reading! (This was the longest chapter so far. I hope I didn’t drag it for too long??)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up: I introduce a bunch of original characters in this chapter (you’ll see why) but yeah. You don’t have to memorise their names or anything. Sorry for the bombardment though D: 
> 
> Oh myyy, this also isn’t my best chapter, but please enjoy <3

Every hair on Shouyou’s head practically buzzed with excitement. His feet fidgeted on the stark white floor, his smile still. Any minute now, they’d be arriving. He glanced at Tobio by his side, the perfect image of calm and quiet, though Shouyou was certain he was just as impatient.

 

Shouyou, much to everyone’s surprise, had successfully arranged a practice match. He’d found a few of his siblings who agreed to it, fully explaining the situation of his tutoring. Though it was rare for someone out of the family to join in practice matches and such, they said they didn’t mind at all. On top of that, he even managed to snag a couple of others to act as referees.

 

Most of it was of short notice, though. Shouyou had debriefed Tobio on volleyball rules and strategies only a few days before. He’d asked Tobio to study a little on his own, a request that Shouyou didn’t think he’d actually obey. When he turned up to training one day with a notebook and pen, well, Shouyou figured he was beyond eager to finally play a real game.

 

Even though the both of them were so quick to arrange a practice match, the truth was that they had barely finished spiking training in only a few weeks. Shouyou was grateful for how fast Tobio learned and adjusted. They had tried training with a net multiple times to solidify their movements on the court, and though it was unfamiliar, it seemed that Tobio was mastering all sorts of plays one after the next.

 

Thus, the day was finally here.

 

Shouyou perked up as the door in front of them cracked open. A bright orange head peeked through, hair bobbing with the movement. The little girl’s face lit up and she rushed forward, throwing her arms wide open.

 

“Shouyou!” She latched onto her brother’s torso tightly and Tobio jumped back a bit from the girl’s sudden assault.

 

“Hey, Natsu.” Shouyou grinned, rubbing her head fondly. Tobio looked back to the door as it was pushed wider open by another person. A young boy slightly taller than Natsu strolled in and flashed a smile at Shouyou.

 

“How’s it going, Kousuke?” Shouyou reached out and also patted his head playfully, threading his fingers through unruly, auburn hair.

 

“I’m doing great, what about you?” Kousuke replied politely. Shouyou caught his eyes quickly scan over Tobio.

 

“Ah, guys, this is Tobio.” Shouyou introduced, gesturing to the taller boy next to him. Kousuke tipped his head in acknowledgement and Natsu offered a small, friendly wave, still strapped to Shouyou’s waist. Tobio shakily smiled and said a very quiet greeting.

 

“Why don’t you two go ahead to the middle of the room first?” Shouyou suggested, “You can wait for the others there.”

 

Kousuke nodded and Natsu reluctantly released Shouyou from her hug. Kousuke held out his hand for Natsu to hold, and the two of them moved away. Tobio stared at them curiously from behind. Shouyou almost laughed at the extent of his awkwardness.

 

“That’s Natsu, my sister, and Kousuke, her boyfriend.” Shouyou clarified.

 

“Oh, he’s not your brother?”

 

Shouyou laughed, shaking his head, “No, no, he’s Fire’s son.”

 

“Ohh.” Tobio drawled, though it didn’t seem like he really knew the difference. The two of them heard a faint noise outside of the door. Shouyou took a few steps forward and looked out into the hallway. The group of people walking, dressed in casual clothes of bright-colored shirts, immediately stood out from the surrounding white space. Shouyou stuck an arm out and waved them over. “Hey, everyone! Hurry up!”

 

A few waved back as they approached. Shouyou backed away from the door, returning to Tobio’s side. When they finally arrived, bringing a cacophony of noises and boisterous laughter, Shouyou made sure to introduce both sides of the party.

 

“Everyone, this is Tobio, Tragedy’s son.” Shouyou said loudly, calling for their attention. Tobio bowed slightly as he observed them. Most of them looked like they were Shouyou’s age, though there were a few that appeared older. They all carried small bags, mostly likely carrying their shoes and water bottles.

 

“This is Yuuta.” Shouyou said, pointing as he went along. “Kawano, Haru, Sakuma, Tatsuhito. That’s Usami in the back and Sugimura at the end.”

 

As they were each introduced, they responded with a wave or a smile at Tobio. He tried his best to keep up. Shouyou saw the troubled look in Tobio’s eyes and almost chuckled.

 

“The rest will be coming soon.” Kawano said, “We’ll go get ready over there.” Shouyou nodded his approval and the others moved along the wall of the room, some of them patting Tobio on the shoulder in passing. Natsu and Kousuke joined them as well, striking up an easy conversation even with the age gap between them.

 

Tobio turned to Shouyou and gave him a distressed look. “I already forgot half of their names.” Shouyou laughed.

 

“Don’t worry, they won’t burn you if you ask for their names again.”

 

Tobio visibly paled. “These people are your siblings, right?”

 

“Right! So they all know how to use fire like me.” Shouyou explained. “But Kousuke is a little different, since he’s not our brother.”

 

“Your powers aren’t the same?”

 

“No, but they’re very similar.” Shouyou hummed in thought, “Actually, they’re practically the same thing, but if you want to be picky about it, there _are_ a few differences. I guess the most prominent difference would be our skills in fire casting and fire summoning.”

 

“What’s that?” Tobio questioned, tilting his head quizzically.

 

“My siblings and I specialize in something called ‘fire casting’. We cast things like fireballs or spirits or all kinds of things. It’s basically a power where you give a form or shape to fire.”

 

“And what about the other one?”

 

“Fire’s children train in fire summoning, which means they can spawn fire anywhere. If you’ve noticed, my powers usually originate from my hand. However, Kousuke and his siblings can essentially set fire to any surface and let it burn.

 

“This differentiating doesn’t really matter all that much. I can do everything they can and vice versa. It’s not like a certain power belongs to us and only us. We just happen to use more of one than the other.” Shouyou shrugged. Tobio nodded slowly as if absorbing it.

 

The door clicked open once again and several more people came through. As Shouyou happily went to greet them, Tobio saw the group that arrived earlier already starting their stretches.

 

He heard Shouyou finish talking, so he stepped forward as well. “Hello. My name’s Tobio.” He bowed once more. When he looked back up, the group began to introduce themselves in order. Tobio followed them with his eyes. Amasawa, Kataki, Akira. They all smiled widely at him, as if he had somehow brightened their entire day by merely stating his name. Kazuo, Naoki. For some reason, it really didn’t surprise Tobio that all of Shouyou’s relatives seemed constantly wild and overly excited.

 

When they had all finished expressing their overall joys in finally meeting Shouyou’s very talented student, they all moved as a group to join the others and begin stretching. Tobio was surprised that Shouyou wanted to stay next to him instead of talking to his brothers, but he appreciated the company nevertheless. Shouyou sat down to work his hamstrings, reaching towards his toes and hooking his hand on his feet. The two younger kids sat to the side and chatted animatedly.

 

Tobio leaned over to Shouyou, “Is that the sister you were complaining about because she had a partner and you didn’t?”

 

Shouyou turned red at once and shoved Tobio’s face away. “She is _not_. And it’s none of your business anyway.” Tobio smirked, knew that he had it spot-on. Shouyou focused on warming his muscles up, pouting slightly. A moment later, his face had returned to a normal color.

 

For Shouyou’s part, he had definitely gotten better lately about being flustered around Tobio. He had it almost down to _an art_. Although there were still times he got truly embarrassed and would inadvertently heat up, he made sure that the blush subsided quickly. After all, he needed to keep his spying subtle.

 

It was an accident at first. The skillful darting of eyes that glimpsed at rare patches of bare skin was something Shouyou had unintentionally mastered throughout the grueling weeks of spiking training. If he had to say, he’d guess that it probably started right after their little impromptu trip to the ice planet.

 

After that day, when things were back to normal, Shouyou had been glad that he got to spend so much time with Tobio. But almost every time they’d had a conversation not related to volleyball, Shouyou would flush extraordinarily easily. Sometimes, he’d even fumble with the ball too much just because he made eye contact with the other. Shouyou was thankful that Tobio was extremely, _extremely_ dense.

 

So while the two trained for volleyball, they also had their own subjects to practice for. In Tobio’s case, he merely wanted to learn how to control his powers. For Shouyou, he just wanted to figure out the best way he could sneak glances at Tobio without being discovered from being too obvious. Thus, Shouyou had it down to a fine art by the time a few weeks rolled by and the practice match was scheduled.

 

As the rest of the players finished stretching, Shouyou stood up. “You remember the rules, right?”

 

Tobio followed him up, “Yes.”

 

“You know your position and your role?”

 

A curt nod.

 

“You know the other positions as well?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Remember to do what?”

 

“Concentrate.”

 

Shouyou grinned and gave him a thumb-up.

 

“Alright, everyone gather around.” Shouyou called to the rest of the group, beckoning them into some sort of deformed circle. “Let’s pick teams. I want the two sides to be relatively equal in both height and skill.”

 

After a few moments of shuffling and confusion, their little cluster eventually spilt into two groups of seven. Shouyou observed his teammates, glad to see that they had some very skilled players on their side. However, the other team seemed to have the advantage in height. Two of their opponents were over 185 centimeters and Shouyou had to resist scowling at them.

 

“Call it.” Natsu stood in between the two groups with a bottle cap. Yuuta, the other team’s setter, stepped forward.

 

“We call heads.”

 

“Tails.” Kazuo responded for their side, a vicious grin on his face. Yuuta smirked and squared his shoulders as if they were planning on fighting instead of playing volleyball. Shouyou laughed at his brother’s antics. _Seems like they still have their stupid rivalry going on._

 

Natsu flicked the cap and it fell to the floor with a sharp _clink_. Heads.

 

“Great,” Yuuta grinned, “We’ll serve first.”

 

Shouyou grabbed Kazuo’s shirt as the two teams walked away from each other to opposite corners of the room. “Stop glaring at them. We’re going this way.” Shouyou dragged him off and caught up with Tobio dawdling at the back of the group.

 

Tobio nodded at Shouyou as he ran up beside him before he suddenly received a harsh slap on the back and lurched forward from the impact. He gasped in air and looked behind him, scared he’d done something wrong. One of Shouyou’s brothers, the one who’d spoken for them a minute ago, grinned down at him. He was a little taller than Tobio, with badly swept ashy-blond hair. His narrow eyes glinted with mirth. Tobio heard Shouyou laugh loudly next to him.

 

“Uh…hi.” Tobio said. His back stung.

 

“Hey.” The other replied, smiling in a way that reminded Tobio of Shouyou’s overexcited grins, “I’m glad you’re on our team. Have you played before?”

 

Tobio shook his head. “This’ll be my first time.”

 

“Really? Then, you should enjoy it to the fullest. What do you play?”

 

“Setter.” Tobio declared.

 

“Ooh.” Kazuo nodded approvingly, “You’ve got a very important job.”

 

“What about you?”

 

“I’m a wing spiker.” Kazuo said, the statement filled with pride. Tobio’s eyes widened in understanding.

 

“You have a really strong swing.” Tobio complimented. His back was probably going to bruise.

 

When the team arrived at their corner, they formed a loose huddle so they could plan their strategies. As the people around him talked, Tobio tried to keep up with as much of the discussion as possible. At the same time, he took the opportunity to observe his teammates. Many of them were on the taller side, though they still lacked in overall height compared to the other team. Tobio sighed softly, relieved that at least nobody appeared to be shorter than Shouyou.

 

They decided on some simple hand signals to finish up the mini-conference. When it seemed like everyone was about to disperse, Tobio spoke up. “Can I ask for your names again? And your positions?” He received a lot of friendly smiles at that. They went around the circle, reintroducing themselves, and Tobio made sure to store all the information about his team in his head.

 

Haru: libero. Though only a couple centimeters taller than Shouyou, he seemed to have a bigger presence than all the others, holding both a sense of reliability and charm at the same time.

 

Akira, Tatsuhito, and Kazuo: wing spikers. The three of them were all around the same height as Tobio. The way they stood and expressed themselves made it seem like they were a lot more experienced, like they demanded authority on the court.

 

Shouyou and Sakuma: middle blockers. They could almost be described as polar opposites. Sakuma was the tallest on their team and had a more mellow personality compared to Shouyou or Kazuo. He seemed like a serious player that opponents were sure to keep an eye on.

 

Tobio grinned. He couldn’t believe he got to play his very first game with a team like this. Shouyou looked up at him curiously, silently asking if he was ready yet. Tobio nodded.

 

“Alright everyone!” Shouyou clapped his hands to get their attention, “Remember, this is just a practice match. Let’s go and have some fun!”

 

Tobio jumped slightly as the men around him suddenly yelped and cheered loudly, raising their fists in the air like they’d already won. Tobio followed them as they returned to the middle of the room. He could see that the other team still wasn’t done yet.

 

“Shouyou.”

 

The shorter boy looked at him as they walked, “Hm? What is it, Tobio?”

 

“When you say it’s ‘just a practice match’, does that mean you guys hold actual tournaments and stuff?”

 

“Yeah, we do!” Shouyou smiled. “We only do it when we have family reunions, though. Not many people know about it since only Sun’s children are allowed in.”

 

Tobio hummed thoughtfully. “Must be quite a gathering.”

 

Shouyou nodded, “It really is. But a lot of people don’t play. They say it’s more fun just watching on the side or preparing food for after the tournament ends. But still, there are so many teams that it takes _forever_ to get through all of them.”

 

“Don’t you get tired?” Tobio asked.

 

“Tobio, you’re going to learn pretty fast that my family has boundless energy.” Shouyou chuckled. He stopped walked suddenly and stared as Natsu ran up to them. Shouyou knelt down, smiling sweetly.

 

“Are you guys ready? Can Kousuke set up the court now?” Natsu asked.

 

“Yup! Tell him to go ahead.”

 

Natsu turned around and ran back the way she came. Tobio watched her, amused at how small she looked weaving around her brothers’ legs. She gave Kousuke the confirmation.

 

Shouyou stood back up, took hold of Tobio’s wrist, and guided him over to where everyone else was standing against the wall. They all chatted to each other as they waited. Tobio was the only one who was watching.

 

Tobio stared, mesmerized, as a glowing line appeared on the ground. It was like it was drawing itself, growing in length and turning at corners, forming a rectangle. The lines shined a deep ember. In the middle of the court, a long, bright, flame shot up. A wave of heat came with it before it visibly shaped and hardened into the structure of a net. He felt somebody flick his arm and he glanced to see Shouyou glowering beside him.

 

“What?”

 

“Don’t look so interested, I made us a net last week. You should be used to this.”

 

“You didn’t make it look so flashy and pretty.”

 

Shouyou turned his head away, as if deeply offended. He let out small huff of irritation and Tobio rolled his eyes.

 

Once Kousuke was finished, the players assumed their positions. Shouyou hopped around in place, eager to start the match. He eyed Naoki on the other side of the net as Natsu handed him her fireball. He bounced it rhythmically so it wouldn’t burn him.

 

Kousuke stood on the sidelines, hands on hips. When Natsu returned to his side, he raised his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly. The game began.

 

Shouyou tensed and readied himself into the position to receive. Naoki tossed the ball into the air and smacked it with the palm of his hand. The ball spun towards their side of the net and Kazuo sidestepped to bump it back into the air, straight to Tobio.

 

“Nice receive!” Several of Shouyou’s teammates called out. Tobio extended his arms and set the ball for Tatsuhito to slam past the blockers. The ball barely hit the in-bounds of the court, landing in the far corner. Sugimura dived to the floor to return it but was a split second too late.

 

“Woahh!” Shouyou cheered, “Nice course!” He high-fived Tatsuhito as the others pounced on him giving him congratulatory head rubs. Shouyou smiled widely at Tobio’s frozen form. He was staring at his hands, his own grin trying to break free.

 

“Let’s score even more points.” Shouyou slapped Tobio’s shoulder. Tobio nodded with a determined look in his eyes. His lips quirked into a half-smirk and he clenched his fist like he was looking for a fight. Shouyou hoped his brothers weren’t already having an influence on him.

 

Tobio made sure to ask Tatsuhito how his toss was, a new resolve building up within him. Tatsuhito chuckled nervously from the intense glare he was getting, “Uh…maybe a little lower next time?”

 

“Okay, lower. I got it.” Tobio repeated, ingraining it into his memory. The team reorganized themselves on the court and Kousuke whistled for the next serve.

 

“Give us a nice one, Akira!” Shouyou called. As the ball sailed over to their opponent’s side, Shouyou tensed. The ball was dangerously close to the sideline. _Ah! It’s gonna go out!_ It seemed even the other side’s receiver was confused as to where the ball was going to end up. Thinking fast, Kawano went with the decision to receive it. Shouyou heaved a sigh of relief.

 

“Here it comes!” Kazuo warned the three of them in the rearguard. Yuuta set the ball into the air, as easily and gracefully as ever. Kataki spiked the ball straight to Shouyou, ignoring the two blockers who aimed to stop his cross-spike. Shouyou tried to receive it but his attempt was clumsy at best. The ball bounced right off his arm and out of bounds.

 

Natsu’s loud, cheerful voice rang out, “Nice spike, Kataki!” Said brother spun around and flashed a smile at her, absolutely delighted to have the support of his sister.

 

“Ahh! I’m sorry!” Shouyou cried, bowing to his teammates. His arms were turning red from the impact.

 

“Don’t worry, Shouyou. We’ll get the next one!” Kazuo slapped his back harshly as an encouraging gesture. Shouyou fought the gasps and coughs with a shaky smile and a nod.

 

Tobio caught Shouyou’s eye once again, standing stock still in the middle of the court with conflicting emotions on his face. Shouyou put his hands on his hips. “What’s up with you?”

 

Tobio’s expressions changed from a glower to awe and shock within seconds. “Their offense is amazing.”

 

“Well, of course. They’re my brothers.” Shouyou felt his chest puff out a little with pride, even though he’d cost them a point. “But I’m in the vanguard now. Let’s show them what we’re made of.”

 

Kousuke whistled and Kawano served flawlessly as per usual. Akira spread his arms out, signaling that the ball was in his range. He called the receive and redirected the ball back to Tobio. As the setter moved into the toss, Shouyou ran behind the back line to get a running start for his jump. He licked his lips.

 

And suddenly - he was flying. The blockers below him were a second too slow and Shouyou had the satisfaction to spike the ball right over their reaching fingers. Not even the other team’s libero could respond fast enough to get that one. Everyone on both sides froze as Shouyou landed back on the ground. The ball thumped on the floor.

 

The room exploded in noise.

 

“Alright!” Shouyou cheered and threw his hand into the air, eyes screwed shut and smile wide from happiness. Tobio followed after his example enthusiastically.

 

“That quick was amazingly fast!” Kazuo hooked his arms around both of their necks from behind. “You guys totally blew them away!”

 

Natsu screamed out once again from the sideline, “Shouyou, you’re amazing!”

 

Shouyou laughed, stared at Tobio’s smiling face and immediately raised his hand for a high-five. Warmth bloomed in Shouyou’s chest as Tobio mimicked without hesitation and the resounding clap echoed in his mind long after the short second was over.

 

“Nice toss, Tobio.”

 

* * *

 

Shouyou tried to hold back a defeated sigh. A drop of sweat rolled down his jaw as he stayed hunched over, hands on his knees and breathing hard. The other team had taken the first set from them.

 

Even though Shouyou’s teammates put up a good fight, their opponents always managed to swoop in cruelly as soon as they thought they had the upper hand. Every time the tables turned and they pulled ahead, the other side would catch up just as quickly. They made it look _easy_. Although the offense was about the same on both sides, Shouyou realized their lack of a solid defensive foundation probably cost them a lot of points. Shouyou straightened up, a grin splitting across his face. _We’re getting the next one._

He followed everyone else off the court to get a quick water break and replenish his energy. “Thanks, Natsu.” Shouyou smiled as she handed him his water bottle.

 

“Get the next set, Shouyou.” She clenched her fist, determined, “I believe in you.”

 

Shouyou laughed and knelt down to hug Natsu tightly. “Oh my goodness, you are so cute.” He felt her arms wrapping around his chest as well, giggling gleefully. He brushed his hand through her curly hair. “Thanks for your support, as always.”

 

Natsu nodded, broke the embrace. She pushed the water bottle in Shouyou’s hand closer to his face. “Drink.” She demanded, “You don’t want to be dehydrated.”

 

Shouyou nodded obediently and watched her jog off to her other brothers. As he tilted his head back to drink as instructed, he caught Tobio staring at him a few meters away. The look on his face surprised Shouyou.

 

His gaze was softened, his features calm. From afar, Shouyou could barely tell how his eyes were a little glazed over. A hint of a smile played on his lips. The flush of his skin from the hard-played game had not yet disappeared and his hair was sticking slightly to his forehead.

 

Shouyou quirked an eyebrow and stood, walking to the dark-haired boy with purpose. “Why are you staring at me?” It wasn’t exactly an accusing tone, more of a curious one. He took another sip of water and rested his other hand on his hip.

 

Tobio’s eyes widened a bit, as if surprised that Shouyou was right there. He turned his head away. “I wasn’t staring.” Shouyou grinned. _You liar_. Tobio raised his own water bottle to his lips, a sly way to avoid saying any more. He kept his eyes trained away from Shouyou, as if to prove a point that he had definitely _not_ been gaping at the other.

 

Shouyou stayed silent, looked fixedly at Tobio. He couldn’t help but think it unfair. _If he gets to stare at me, then I get to return the favor, right?_ Shouyou reasoned with himself. It wasn’t like he was going to get a similar opportunity anytime soon. And such a _golden opportunity_ at that.

 

So he took his time. He observed the small frown, the narrowed eyes, the faint pink dusted on his cheeks. The curve of his nose, the cheekbones, the fluttering eyelashes. The way his lips were slightly wet from the water, the pale of his skin compared to his dark hair. Shouyou subconsciously leaned forward, wanting to see more. He noticed the tip of Tobio’s ear turning pink. _Interesting._ Without even knowing it, Shouyou held his hand up, reached forward to brush Tobio’s hair away so he could look at it clearly. He didn’t get far.

 

As soon as he’d moved, Tobio had gone tense. Shouyou blinked and pulled his hand away immediately. _Crap. I got ahead of myself._ He took a step back, watching Tobio carefully.

 

The taller boy turned to him, a hint of curiosity and embarrassment glinting in his eyes. Shouyou expected him to at least _glare_. His voice was soft when he spoke. “Why are you staring at me?”

 

“I wasn’t staring.” Shouyou parroted his words without thinking. He broke eye contact and turned away, the corner of his lips tugging into a tiny smile. “Let’s go. The next set will be starting soon.”

 

Shouyou ran off first, putting his water bottle beside everyone else’s before returning to the court with his brothers. He wanted to slap himself so he would get back into the zone to play. _Stop thinking about how pretty he is_.

 

Shouyou took a deep breath as the others settled into their lineup. Kousuke whistled to signal the start of the game and Shouyou panicked a bit. It was almost like the adrenalin from the previous set had run away and now he couldn’t concentrate.

 

Naoki served the first ball of the set and Shouyou received it. He breathed a sigh as the ball flew to Tobio with no problems. Well, it _would_ have been no problems, if Tobio had just stayed _on the ground_. Instead, he sprung up into a jump toss to accommodate for Sakuma’s height and Shouyou couldn’t help but ogle as his shirt fluttered to reveal a tiny sliver of pale skin.

 

Shouyou was definitely beyond help now. All that peeping practice was down the drain and he was just blatantly staring at Tobio, making no move to conceal it. Shouyou briefly acknowledged the ball getting received on the other side as Tobio’s eyebrows furrowed in frustration. It didn’t seem like he even noticed Shouyou standing in the back.

 

He followed Tobio with his eyes as the other dashed across the court and jumped to block. There it is again, the quick flash of skin that has the capability to floor Shouyou and distract him impossibly well. _Wait – a block?_

“Shouyou!” A loud voice snapped from beside him. Shouyou’s eyes widened, suddenly realizing that the ball was hurtling straight towards him, right past the blockers. He jolted back into reality. Not only was the ball coming at him with such breakneck speed, it was also at an awkward angle so Shouyou couldn’t determine whether to receive it underarm or overhead. If he only he had just been standing a few steps back.

 

Either way, it was too late. The ball was bound to collide with his face if he didn’t do _something_. So Shouyou did the next best thing. He caught it.

 

The room went eerily silent, possibly with disbelief or confusion. Shouyou blinked dumbly, his head only registering that fact that at least his face didn’t have to endure Kawano’s spike at full force. On second thought, Shouyou really should’ve just bumped the ball back with any part of his body instead of stopping the game like that.

 

And then the burning came a few seconds after that.

 

“Ah!” Shouyou yelped, practically throwing the ball to the ground in panic, mouth open in shock at his own stupidity. A lot of other people started shouting and the players on the other side even ducked under the net to run over. Shouyou cowered as Tobio stomped up to him, a glare settled over his pretty features.

 

He grabbed Shouyou’s wrists forcefully and pulled them towards him. “You absolute idiot.” He hissed, turning Shouyou’s pulsing hands about and inspecting them. Although his words and tone were harsh, and fully deserved, Shouyou couldn’t help but notice the soft grip he had on him.

 

A small voice broke through the gathering crowd. “Water! I’ve got water!” Natsu declared, trying her best to shove through everybody fussing around Shouyou. “Give me some room, you ruffians!”

 

Once Natsu got to Shouyou, she grabbed onto his shirt and dragged him off the court. The rest of the boys stayed further back like Natsu had demanded. She took a good look at Shouyou’s hands. “They don’t look too bad. Hold them out.”

 

Natsu unscrewed the water bottle lid and poured the water over his hands slowly. Shouyou flinched slightly, the pain merely stinging. Most of the water in the bottle was emptied out and in the end, a pool had gathered in Shouyou’s hands. Natsu turned around and ordered one of her brothers to get some bandages, cream, and a towel. He rushed off to a medical station positioned against the wall, near the door. There was one in every room, as even Sun didn’t trust what dangerous things his reckless children got up to.

 

Natsu told Shouyou to dump the water on the ground for now. When Yuuta returned with the requested items, Natsu gently dabbed at Shouyou’s hands until they were dry. She rubbed them with cream to protect and heal the affected skin. Then, she gingerly wrapped them with the bandages. As she worked, everyone else kept their distances, waiting for Natsu’s verdict.

 

“I’m going to make you sit this one out, Shouyou.” Natsu said, halfway through bandaging. Shouyou opened his mouth to protest but quickly thought better of it when Natsu hit him with her best glare. “If you don’t want to miss a game, then learn to pay attention when you’re playing, you half-wit.”

 

Shouyou chuckled nervously, a little concerned about her vocabulary. “Natsu, you’re surprisingly mean.”

 

“I said before that they weren’t too bad, but I don’t want you to injure them any more than this.” She scolded lightly, “Let them heal first.”

 

When Natsu finished up, she went to put everything away and also inform Tobio and her brothers that Shouyou would be sitting out for the next set. Shouyou sat down against the wall, staring at his loosely wrapped hands. He heard footsteps approaching and looked up. Tobio stopped walking when he reached the puddle of water on the ground. He knelt down to wipe it up with the towel in his hand.

 

“So?” Tobio asked as he finished up. He sounded like he wanted to punch Shouyou. “What got you so distracted?”

 

“Nothing.” Shouyou sulked. _His tone is so different from Natsu’s caring one._ Tobio moved to sit next to Shouyou, discarding the soaked towel on the side. Shouyou refused to look at him. After all, that was what got him in such a mess in the first place.

 

“You should avoid thinking of trivial things in the middle of a match.”

 

If it was possible, Shouyou sulked even more. He couldn’t believe he had to get scolded by two people in the span of five minutes, his little sister and student no less.

 

Tobio glanced at Shouyou’s bandaged hands and his voice went impossibly soft. “Seriously, what would you have done if your hands had turned out worse than this?” Shouyou couldn’t help but compare him to an exasperated mother. “You wouldn’t be able to play volleyball again.”

 

Shouyou offered a small smile, hoping to alleviate the tension, “I’ve gotten used to things like this.”

 

“Used… to it?” Tobio looked a mix between curious and mortified.

 

“Well, I mean, my hands always sting after I spike, y’know?” Shouyou chuckled. “It feels similar.”

 

“That’s completely different!” Tobio rolled his eyes.

 

“No…” Shouyou thought about their ball, literally made out of fire, “I don’t think it is.”

 

* * *

 

Shouyou watched the rest of the game on the sideline. Although he tried, really he did, to keep his eyes on the ball, they somehow _always_ managed to drift back to Tobio again and again. Shouyou reminded himself that he was sitting here with slightly burned hands just because of his stupid staring habit. Apparently, Shouyou’s body was rebelling against his mind. And it also seemed like Shouyou has no sense of self-control when he gave in to his desires only a few minutes after the game began again.

 

Sure, it’s not like he was exactly _happy_ to be put out of the game, but he certainly wasn’t complaining for this front-row seat. He had been wrong. Opportunities like this come by surprisingly often.

 

Shouyou was so transfixed by Tobio’s movements on the court that he didn’t notice how quickly the game was processing. He barely paid any attention to the score count. _Man, I’ve got it bad._ Shouyou thought glumly as, all too soon, Kousuke was whistling the other team’s win.

 

Much to Shouyou’s own surprise, he wasn’t that disappointed at their defeat. Although he _was_ jealous that the other team could celebrate and yell and brag all they wanted, he knew that the match was all in good fun. The smile on Tobio’s face told Shouyou that he was thinking of something similar.

 

Everyone got off the court to hydrate themselves. Congratulations were passed around with smiles and laughs (disregarding the murderous look that Kazuo was giving Yuuta). There were no such things as grudges when both of the teams worked hard.

 

Shouyou stood up and joined them. He picked up Tobio’s water bottle by grabbing it between his wrists, and handed it to him. “Welcome back, Tobio. Tired?” Tobio nodded wordlessly and took a big gulp of water.

 

“You had fun, right?” Shouyou asked.

 

“Yeah.” Tobio smiled. “I had a lot of fun.” Shouyou grinned back, a warm feeling spreading through his chest. Shouyou stiffened as their attention was caught by a sudden shout.

 

“Oi, Kousuke! Don’t go hugging our sister in public so much.” The remark was made light-hearted by the teasing lilt behind it. Kousuke looked startled before he let Natsu go and retorted.

 

“You’re just jealous because Natsu is really cute and she won’t let you hug her.” He put his hands on his hips, a playful smirk on his face. Shouyou laughed. _Oh boy, he’s spent too much time with my brothers._

 

Kazuo feigned hurt, turning on his sister. “Is this true, Natsu?”

 

“That’s right!” She copied Kousuke’s actions, though she couldn’t stop her amused grin. “I’ll only hug Kousuke!”

 

At this, Kousuke seemed to falter in adoration. He turned back to her and immediately hugged her once more, delighted that she backed him up. Her other brothers comforted a weeping Kazuo. Kousuke was even daring enough to kiss Natsu on the cheek despite everyone’s horrified gasps.

 

Tobio looked on in curious amazement and Shouyou couldn’t stop laughing at the ridiculousness of the scene. Shouyou approached the two and knelt down to their height.

 

“Oh wow, kisses on the _cheek_?!” Shouyou put a hand to his mouth in fake shock, “My, how inappropriate.” Natsu glowed a bright pink but smiled widely at Shouyou nevertheless.

 

Kousuke grinned as well, “So what? I like her a lot.”

 

Shouyou chuckled at his unashamed honesty and tousled his hair. “I do too, you little brat.”

 

Kousuke pried his hand away, laughing. “What about you, Shouyou? Do _you_ like anybody?”

 

Shouyou didn’t even think twice about answering. “I do.”

 

“Wah, seriously?!” Natsu immediately jumped at her brother, “This is news to me!”

 

Kousuke turned to Tobio as Natsu began drilling Shouyou with questions. “What about you, Tobio?” Tobio tilted his head, as if he was really thinking about it.

 

“No.” He said curtly and took another swig of water.

 

* * *

 

Shouyou had to refrain from playing volleyball for the next few days due to his slightly injured hands. Tobio had insisted on taking a break as well, even though it really only affected Shouyou’s ability to play. Shouyou figured that if he was going to be resting anyways, he might as well do it wih Tobio.

 

Thus, Shouyou had taken it upon himself to visit Tobio’s house – every day (much to the taller boy’s annoyance and resistance).

 

“Open the door, Tobio!” Shouyou knocked loudly.

 

“No.” Came the muffled reply of a clearly irritated Tobio.

 

“I’ll blast this door down.” Shouyou threatened. But that was a lie. Even if he _could_ use his powers, he wouldn’t break in so rudely. Shouyou bet that Tobio knew this. The door still opened.

 

“Thanks!” Shouyou waltzed in breezily and made himself at home.

 

“You need to stop coming over.” Tobio said. But through the annoyed exterior, Shouyou was sure that he didn’t actually mind all that much. In fact, it was almost like he enjoyed the company. Why else would he move so purposefully into the kitchen to get snacks when it wasn’t totally necessary?

 

Shouyou pulled a deck of cards from his pants pocket and sat at the table. “Let’s play cards today, Tobio!”

 

“I don’t know any card games.” Tobio said as he carried out a plate of cookies and put it on the dining table in front of his guest.

 

“Oh! I love cookies!” Shouyou’s face lit up in joy. He grabbed one and stuffed it in his mouth.

 

“Really?” Tobio moved back into the kitchen to grab two cups of tea. He brought them out as Shouyou finished chewing.

 

“Yeah! What about you?” Shouyou picked up another.

 

“They’re okay.” Tobio shrugged, placing a cup in front of him and taking a sip from the other one.

 

“Ehh.” Shouyou drawled, “Then what _do_ you like?”

 

Tobio thought about it for a bit. “I like food.” He answered simply.

 

“Wow, how original.” Tobio flicked Shouyou’s forehead.

 

“And I like cooking.”

 

“You don’t look like much of a cook.” Shouyou mused.

 

Tobio pouted. “What about you?”

 

“Eh? That’s it?” Shouyou laughed. “Hmm, let’s see. I like a bunch of things! I like taking hot baths, and playing with my brothers, and drinking tea,” He counted on his fingers as he went along, “And I love practicing volleyball, and I really, _really_ like you, and I like pudding a lot! Pudding is so good, and cookies as well!” Shouyou paused for a breath, accidentally having rambled too much. He let out a frustrated sigh. “I like too many things, I can’t name them all!” He threw his hands up as if he were truly distressed.

 

“What…did you say?” Tobio’s voice came out low and soft. So soft that Shouyou barely heard him.

 

“Huh?” Shouyou glanced at the mortified look on Tobio’s face. “I like pudding?”

 

“Before that.” Tobio practically growled. Suddenly, Shouyou paled with realization. He put his face in his hands and groaned, silently cursing himself for saying something like that so casually. “What did you say?” Tobio repeated.

 

Shouyou responded barely above a whisper. “I said I like you.”

 

The room fell silent. Shouyou didn’t look up, didn’t uncover the flaming blush spreading across his cheeks. He heard Tobio get up from his chair, slowly, as if it was painful to stand.

 

“No.”

 

Shouyou’s breath hitched with surprise and then panic. “Tobio?” Shouyou peeked out from behind his hands and flinched. The confusion and horror that had been so obvious on his face before had changed into wild fury. Tobio stood stiffly, glaring hard at Shouyou with almost predatory eyes. Shouyou tried not to cower. “What do you mean?”

 

“You should go back to Victoria.” Tobio snarled, taking Shouyou by surprise. He’d never spoken so harshly before, not even when he was yelling at him. “Maybe then you’ll cool your head off properly.”

 

“Huh? What ar-“

 

“Leave.”

 

Shouyou stood up immediately, an unknown despair sweeping through him. “You can’t just ask me to leave so suddenly! I just confessed my lov-“

 

“I don’t care about your love.” Tobio interrupted, his tone sharp and unfriendly and…distant. “I didn’t accept you as my teacher for you to fall in love with me.” Shouyou’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in shock. He barely acknowledged the way his hands were shaking – unsure if it was out of anger or pain.

 

Tobio turned and walked to the door briskly. “What’s the point in loving somebody who doesn’t return your feelings?” Tobio stated bluntly, his face scarily blank. He reworded it, as if Shouyou had needed more clarification, as if he needed everything spelt out for him. “I don’t love you.”

 

Shouyou briefly forgot how to breathe. Then, the next second he was gasping with anxiety and anguish, his heart sped up and his face flushed. He felt like his whole body was shaking. His blood thrummed in his hears and he felt so _humiliated_. Tobio opened the door. Shouyou noticed that he wasn’t willing to even make eye contact anymore.

 

Without another word, Shouyou took the hint and left Tobio’s room, moving along the hallway in slow, jerky movements like a newborn. His hands shook uncontrollably. Somewhere along the way, his tears had finally spilled over, but he couldn’t find it in himself to make a single sound. He sniffled pathetically, wiping desperately at the tears that wouldn’t stop. Shouyou walked in the dimness of the hallway, silently crying, dragging his feet miserably, and for the first time, completely _heartbroken._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shouyou playing volleyball with his brothers is basically Johzenji against more Johzenji. They are out of control. 
> 
> The whole time I was writing this, I felt so bad for Shouyou oh my god. I’m hurting my baby so bad, both physically and mentally, and this is not okay. It’ll get better soon!!!
> 
> Also, I just wanna say that I know absolutely nothing about volleyball. I know just the basic rules and stuff, but nothing about strategies or starting positions or anything!! I feel like I should know, since I’ve read and watched so much of Haikyuu, but alas I’m an idiot. 
> 
> Speaking of being an idiot, I don’t know why these chapters are so long when only like two things happen every time. *Internally screams* Why am I like this. I’ll try to keep the next one short :)


	9. Chapter 9

Shouyou knocked on the door in front of him, wiping away stray tears. He huffed a shaky breath _._ Shouyou mused that he must look quite terrible now. From all the crying he did on his way over, no doubt his eyes were red and puffy. His cheeks were probably covered with dried up tearstains. His face felt raw.

 

A few seconds passed without any answer. Shouyou rapped his knuckles on the door, harder this time. “Tadashi?” He hated the way his voice sounded so…flimsy. Was love supposed to feel like this? Like sorrow?

 

Shouyou heard footsteps approaching from within and the door creaked open. “Is that you, Shouyou?”

 

“Tadashi!” Shouyou launched himself through the threshold and wrapped his arms tightly around the other. Tadashi stumbled backwards from the impact with a high-pitched squeak. He returned the hug on instinct even as he was trying not to trip over himself.

 

“Shouyou, what’s wrong?” Tadashi asked, worry settling over his features. Shouyou buried his face into Tadashi’s chest.

 

“So many things!” Shouyou wailed miserably. He sniffled, “So many things have gone wrong and I don’t – I don’t know what to do!”

 

“Okay, okay, umm,” Tadashi fretted over his brother as he half carried, half dragged him to the couch. “Calm down first. Calm down.” Shouyou nodded, but Tadashi’s words didn’t seem to have any effect as new tears sprung to Shouyou’s eyes.

 

Tadashi rubbed Shouyou’s back in slow circular motions. “Tell me what happened from the beginning, okay? Take it slow.”

 

Shouyou nodded once more, but stayed quiet. He sprawled out on the couch and put his head in Tadashi’s lap, whining slightly. He sniffled again. Tadashi patted his head softly, hoping to make him feel better.

 

“You know Tobio? The one I’ve told you about?” Shouyou began. Tadashi hummed.

 

“And…you know how I got a little burned during that match a few days ago?” Shouyou closed his eyes as Tadashi’s fingers carded through his hair.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Well, after that, Natsu gave me strict instructions to not play any volleyball for a bit. So I’ve been going to Tobio’s house instead, y’know, to just hang out.” Tadashi’s hand halted.

 

“Did he do something to you?” His voice was strange mix of soft and deadly. Shouyou didn’t want to see the look on his face.

 

“No, no, he didn’t do anything.” Shouyou shook his head. “Not exactly.”

 

“Then what happened?”

 

“I did something really stupid.” Shouyou groaned just thinking about it. He curled his body into a ball, as if the motion could somehow stop the pain in his chest. “I confessed.”

 

“Oh, you did?” Tadashi’s voice turned slightly cheerful, “That’s great, Shouyou!”

 

“No, not great.” Shouyou scowled. “Not when the other person just outright rejects you with no reason.” Shouyou tried disguising his hurt under a wobbly layer of anger. He continued to frown, even though all he wanted to do was crawl into a corner and cry his worries away.

 

“He rejected you?” Tadashi sounded honestly confused. “But you told me that he liked you, right?”

 

“Well, I mean, I _thought_ he did!” Shouyou spluttered.

 

“Wait, he never explicitly said it? That he liked you?” Shouyou avoided eye contact, a somewhat guilty look on his face. Tadashi gaped at him. “How can you possibly infer that he liked you if he never said it?!”

 

“Well, it’s just, I-“ Shouyou fumbled with his words, waving his hands around as if it would help to explain, “I don’t know. He’s…been really nice to me these past few weeks.”

 

“Oh my, Shouyou.” Tadashi slumped back into the couch. “Haven’t you ever thought that Tobio might just want to be friends?”

 

“But I don’t _want_ to be just friends!” Shouyou groaned loudly.

 

Tadashi hummed thoughtfully, “That’s called being friend-zoned.”

 

Shouyou resisted the urge to smack his brother. He turned his body so he was lying on his side and pouted. “How come you make it look so effortless?”

 

“Make what look so effortless?”

 

“Dating a tall grumpy person who looks like they have no interest in something like romance at _all_.”

 

Tadashi barked a laugh. He tilted his head, as if seriously considering the question. A moment passed. “It’s not effortless, Shouyou.” Tadashi tugged on the tip of one of Shouyou’s curled strands. “If I said any different, I’d be lying to you.”

 

“But it always seems so easy.” Shouyou looked at the carpeted floor solemnly, “To be happy with the one you love.”

 

Tadashi shook his head slightly, “If you truly loved someone, you’d want to do all kinds of nice things for them. You’d put in the effort to make them happy. No matter how much it may hurt.” Tadashi smiled at Shouyou warmly. “And once they’re happy, you’ll be as well.”

 

Shouyou sighed, clenching his hand. “It really hurts, Tadashi.”

 

“I know, I know.” Tadashi cooed, brushing Shouyou’s bangs back in a soothing rhythm.

 

“Is it okay if I stay with you for a few days? I don’t…want to be alone.”

 

Tadashi nodded quickly, “Of course you can! Stay as long as you like. I’ll try to help as much as I can, okay?”

 

Shouyou nodded wordlessly, wanting to cry again because, really, what did he do to deserve such a good brother?

 

As Tadashi stood up to make the necessary changes around his living space for a second party, Shouyou snuggled into the pillows on the couch and fell into a restless sleep.

 

* * *

 

“Go! Away!” Tobio yelled, glaring fiercely at his door from where the insistent knocks were coming from. At his outburst, those knocks quickly became a loud and angry pounding. Tobio growled, grinding his teeth before he stood up and stomped towards the door.

 

He yanked it open so aggressively that for a moment it almost seemed like it’d fly right of its hinges. Not that it would have been surprising if it did. Tobio was absolutely seething.

 

However, the first sight of his guest made Tobio jump slightly. Not only because he needed to crane his neck to even see his face, the other look positively murderous. Tobio attempted to stare him down.

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

“I’m coming in.” Kei shoved pass Tobio before he could barely finish.

 

“No, you’re not.” Tobio acted fast and grabbed onto Kei’s arm, halting any further approach into his living room. “Answer my question. What do you want?”

 

“ _You_ need to start answering some of mine.” Kei jerked his arm away and went to stand in the middle of the room. He turned to look at Tobio with a hand on his hip. “Do you have _any_ idea of what you’ve done to Shouyou?”

 

Tobio flinched at the sudden mention of the topic. He’d been dreading this, but he really didn’t expect to have this conversation with Kei of all people. “That has nothing to do with you.”

 

“Do you know how much that little shrimp has been crying because of you?” Kei asked, ignoring Tobio’s words.

 

Tobio scowled, highly irritated. “How do you even know about this, Kei?”

 

“That doesn’t matter.” Kei waved his hand in a noncommittal gesture.

 

“Get out of here.” Tobio narrowed his eyes. His voice was dangerously low. Kei raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

 

“Is that what you told Shouyou, too?”

 

Tobio’s patience snapped. He clenched his fists, prepared to swing them, when the floor under Kei’s foot cracked apart. Tobio gasped. _Oh._ And then chuckled. _Even better._

 

Tobio openly smirked. To hell with his floor if it meant shutting up the bastard for one damn second.

 

However, Tobio’s smug grin was short lived. A flurry of movement on Kei’s part had him on the ground with flailing limbs and a splitting headache. Tobio groaned in confusion and pain. It all happened so quickly that Tobio barely registered what happened.

 

“What the-“ Tobio hissed, clutching at his head where it had come in contact with the ground. When he opened his eyes, he saw that he was lying on a sheet of ice, loosely surrounded on all sides by icicles protruding from the ground. Tobio thought that Kei had tackled him, but he probably only slipped and fell because of the ice.

 

Tobio carefully stood back up and noticed that his entire living room had turned into an icy cavern. The ice on the floor had frozen over the cracks and Kei was still standing in the exact same spot, having never left in the first place.

 

Kei had his hand held up loosely, a few spots of snow glistening over it. He tilted his head. “I’m not here to fight.”

 

“Then what?” Tobio sneered. “To make me feel like some kind of scumbag?”

 

Kei considered it. “Well, you’re not wrong.”

 

“I’m leaving.” Tobio took a step towards his door. He stopped when Kei spoke up.

 

“Do you hate Shouyou?”

 

Tobio slowly turned to gauge out Kei’s facial expression. He seemed as indifferent as ever, like it wouldn’t matter in the least if he answered with either a yes or no. And in Tobio’s head he knew he should say yes. Then it would end. He wouldn’t have to offer an explanation, wouldn’t have to deal with any of it any longer. It was the obvious answer.

 

But something made Tobio hesitate. Maybe it was the consequences that a lie would undoubtedly bring. Maybe it was Kei’s watchful gaze that practically saw through him, or maybe it was something entirely different. Tobio’s mouth fell open but nothing came out, like he was still determining the answer but his body had moved faster than his mind.

 

And then, very simply, “No.”

 

A tiny smile ghosted over Kei’s expression. “Are you disgusted by Shouyou’s painfully obvious affection for you?” He asked.

 

“No.” This time the answer came a little faster.

 

“Well, I am.” Kei smirked, clearly having too much fun. “I’m not entirely sure why anybody would want to date a nonsensical jerk like you.”

 

“I can say the same.” Tobio shot back, frowning.

 

“Hmph, touché.” Kei let his hand drop and most of the ice in the room subsided with the motion. Tobio relaxed his stance now that he knew he wasn’t in immediate danger of being impaled by a stalagmite. “So…what you’re telling me is you don’t actually have a reason for turning Shouyou down so harshly, right? Because if you did,” Kei frowned, “I’d really like to know.”

 

“Of course I have my reasons.” Tobio said, “But it’s not like I need to tell you anyways.”

 

Kei hummed, “You don’t hate the guy, do you? But if you didn’t hate him, why’d you make him cry like that? He even ran to his brother for help.” Kei pondered, thinking out loud.

 

“Ah! Don’t tell me…” Kei grinned devilishly, “You’re one of those poor souls who just can’t for the life of them, say their true feelings?”

 

Tobio felt the back of his neck go warm, whether it was from anger or embarrassment he wasn’t sure. He wanted to say something back, deny it in some way, but he didn’t know how. So he kept quiet, thinking that he shouldn’t mess up this situation any more.

 

“So what _are_ your true feelings, huh?”

 

Actually, Tobio just wanted to punch him right in the gut.

 

“Do you love him? Now, that would be a real riot.”

 

Or maybe he could drown him in the floor if he was fast enough. In fact, Tobio would’ve done that and a whole lot more, if it wasn’t for the way his hands felt weirdly clammy and his face oddly flushed.

 

“I don’t love him.” Tobio spluttered out, “He’s such an idiotic dumbass. There’s no wa-“

 

“Are you seriously going to say all that with such a red face?” Kei almost laughed, as Tobio blushed harder. “Look, you can stop lying now. For your own good.”

 

Tobio looked down at the floor guiltily. He shuffled his feet like a child that had been caught for taking one too many cookies and then tried to lie their way out of trouble.

 

“Even if I said that it was true,” Tobio murmured and bit his lip, “What good will come of it anyways?”

 

Kei looked at him curiously. “What do you mean?”

 

Tobio thought hard about how to explain. “Shouyou and I have something…that I don’t want to change. I can’t let this friendship become something more because I know I’ll screw it up eventually. That’s how it’s always been.”

 

“Hah?” Kei made a face like he was confused, “You can’t know that for sure.”

 

“It’s just,” Tobio struggled with his words, “love isn’t something that suits me very much. All I do is cause destruction and misery and Shouyou doesn’t deserve somebody like that. I don’t think anybody deserves that. I know that there’s got to be _somebody_ out there that can treat him a lot better than I can.

 

“So, I’m okay with the way things are. Even though I _do_ like him, it’s enough that I get to be friends with him, to be close to him every day. I’m really grateful to him for reaching out to me and staying with me for so long. And I regret treating him so badly even after all that. I was just so horrified and confused when he confessed so suddenly because…I really don’t want our friendship to end.”

 

Tobio, to say the least, was absolutely mortified to have said so much. He hadn’t intended to, it had just sort of happened on its own. He had to physically restrain himself from slapping a hand over his mouth out of surprise.

 

Kei on the other hand, had hardly a change of emotion throughout the whole speech. “When did this turn into a therapy session?”

 

Tobio had lost count of how many times he’s wanted to kick this beanpole in front of him. Tobio didn’t even know why he’s continued to deal with him because, _wow_ , who says something like that after someone pours his entire heart out?

 

“Look, I don’t know why you find this so hard.” Kei said, exasperated, “He likes you, you like him, and on top of that, he also wants to date you. For whatever delusional reason.”

 

“I told you, it wouldn’t work. I always somehow manage to mess it up.” Tobio said.

 

“Maybe because you need to work harder.” Kei suggested. “Or is Shouyou not worth the effort?”

 

Tobio sulked because Kei brought up a good point. “Of course he’s worth it. He’s worth a whole lot more than that.”

 

“Then suck up your pride or whatever it is that’s keeping you from getting together with him.” Kei ordered, “You know, he thinks you hate him. So go tell him otherwise.”

 

Tobio nodded dumbly, just now registering that he was going to have to face Shouyou again after all these days. And then came the realization that Kei wasn’t such a bad person. (Debatable).

 

“Uh…thank you,” Tobio bowed slightly to express his appreciation. “For helping me…come to my senses.”

 

Kei glanced at Tobio disdainfully, “No, don’t thank me. It’s gross.”

 

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Tobio straightened, “but are you actually here for Shouyou’s sake?”

 

“Actually, I’m not. I couldn’t care less about him.” Kei said. Tobio rolled his eyes since that was obviously untrue. “But Tadashi cares about him _too_ much.”

 

“So?”

 

“ _So?_ ” Kei sneered, “He’s had his hands full for these last few days because Shouyou’s so high maintenance. I haven’t spent a full hour with him _once_ before the little shrimp starts crying and needs attention. And since this was all your fault in the first place, I’ve taken it in my own hands to sort it out.”

 

“Oh.” Tobio grinned with another revelation, “So you’re the jealous type?”

 

“ _I will end you_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back guys hahaa. Sorry for making you guys wait so long for such a short chapter (but hey! I kept it short this time :D). Life got busy again. And when I say busy I mean I just moved like halfwAY ACROSS THE GLOBE!!1!!1! This is very exciting for me :3
> 
> (The next chapter will probably be the last!!)


	10. Chapter 10

Tobio fidgeted nervously in front of Shouyou’s door. He held a crisp, white envelope in his hands. With the way his fingers squirmed around, Tobio was worried that he might crinkle the paper before he could pass it off. He took a deep, anxious breath.

 

Tobio wondered how long he’d been standing there in the hallway, in front of Shouyou’s door, shaking and restless. If somebody passed by, he would definitely look suspicious. He also briefly wondered when his nervousness had turned into agitation. It was so extreme at first that he’d considered just slipping the letter under the door and running away as fast as possible.

 

He banished that idea fairly quickly. He couldn’t be a coward now. He had to do it in person, sincerely and genuinely. At least…that’s what his father told him to do.

 

So it was with great effort that Tobio raised his fist and knocked on the door after fifteen minutes of stalling. He steeled his nerves, straightened his back. And the door opened.

 

Tobio’s eyes widened and Shouyou’s mirrored his. There was an audible gasp but Tobio wasn’t sure if it came from him or Shouyou. Half a second of silence later, the door was slammed forcefully shut. Gaping ahead, Tobio uselessly moved his jaw up and down but no words formed on his tongue. Shouyou spoke first.

 

“You surprised me, Tobio.” He said through the door, “I look rather unkempt at the moment. Please, excuse my manners.”

 

Tobio knew what he meant by those words. Even a socially inept person like himself could read between the lines. Shouyou didn’t want him to see how absolutely distraught he was, even after almost a week and a half. He didn’t want to display his weaknesses so easily.

 

But Tobio had seen it already, in that split second. The tearstains, the slightly bloodshot eyes, the more-than-usual unruliness of his hair had been clear enough. Not to mention the tiny portion of the room that Tobio saw, strewn with tissues and blankets. He could see the sloppy way Shouyou dressed himself and how surprisingly frail he seemed. He probably wasn’t taking very good care of himself and Tobio cursed himself for being the cause of all this.

 

“May I come in, Shouyou?”

 

“No.” The answer was fast, and Tobio couldn’t decided whether to be mad at the response or relieved to hear that Shouyou had at least stayed at the door to hear him out.

 

“I want to see you.”

 

“No, you don’t.”

 

“Please, Shouyou.”

 

“Tobio, can I ask you to leave?” Shouyou asked. Tobio hated the extent of his formality, his distant politeness. It didn’t suit him at all.

 

“I want to give you something. Won’t you let me see you for just a minute?” Tobio pleaded.

 

He flinched when he heard a choked sob, soft and quiet like Shouyou was muffling it. “Don’t you realize? You just being here is making me hurt. Are you cruel enough to continue this?” There was a pause, “If you are, then I really was a fool for trusting you.” Tobio could detect a hint of spite in his voice, but it was almost…a bit fake.

 

“No, it’s not like that, I’d never-“

 

“Leave.” Shouyou ordered. _You’d never what?_ Tobio chided himself fiercely, _hurt him? Don’t you think it’s a little late to be saying that?_

There was nothing left to do except obey Shouyou’s wish. Tobio knelt down and slipped the envelope through the crack under the door and stood back up. _Even though I didn’t want to have to do that,_ Tobio thought regrettably. He turned on his heel and walked back the way he came.

 

He hoped Shouyou would accept the invitation.

 

* * *

 

“I can’t _believe_ this guy!” Shouyou flung the envelope onto Tadashi’s dining table after having barged in quite unceremoniously. “Look at what he came to deliver today.”

 

“Who, Tobio?” Tadashi asked around a mouthful of his lunch.

 

“Who else?” Shouyou fell into a chair, “Just read it.”

 

Tadashi picked it up and skimmed it quickly. “It’s a party invitation.”

 

“Yes! It is! And how dare he!” Shouyou practically seethed. “Is he that much of an idiot to think that everything will be just _fine_ between us if he invited me to some party?!” His tone was halfway between astonishment and indignation.

 

“Alright, alright, calm down. Have you had lunch yet? Here, eat some of this.” Tadashi pushed his plate of fried rice towards Shouyou, who picked up the spoon gingerly. Tadashi could easily see how Shouyou had fallen into an irregular eating habit just by the sunken look on his face. “You’re always slightly irritated when you’re hungry.” Tadashi observed.

 

“Am not.” Shouyou said and proceeded to chomp down two mouthfuls in a matter of seconds. Tadashi folded his hands in front of him.

 

“So you’re not going to the party?”

 

“Of course not.” Shouyou motioned at the other with his spoon, waving it in a manner Tadashi was acutely wary of, “I’ve learnt my lesson with that guy. There’s just no way anybody can break the shell around him.”

 

Tadashi looked at him skeptically. _You’re so wrong it’s almost comical._ “I think you should give it a go.”

 

“What?” Shouyou said, unbelieving, “But imagine all the things that could go wrong!”

 

“Nothing’s gonna go wrong.”

 

“The last time I thought that, I got turned down pretty fast.” Shouyou sulked.

 

“Look,” Tadashi tried again, “Maybe he wants to be friends again, or he thinks it’s a good idea to invite you after you’ve been ignoring him for the past week or so.”

 

“You think so?” Shouyou said uncertainly, “It just seems a little sudden. And this situation is too confusing.”

 

“How do you mean?”

 

“It’s just, does he hate me or like me?” Shouyou whined, “Or does he merely tolerate me? He wouldn’t invite me to a party if he hated me, yet he wouldn’t reject me so conclusively if he liked me.”

 

“Those are some serious mixed signals.” Tadashi nodded.

 

“Exactly! And…I don’t hate him no matter how many times I try to convince myself. I can’t even bring myself to dislike him.” Shouyou admitted. He fidgeted in his seat like he had something to confess but was trying to figure out how. “…The truth is, I _do_ want to go to the party. But then it seems like I have no self-control.”

 

“Shouyou, there’s nothing wrong with that.” Tadashi smiled, “And Tobio wants you to be there. He invited you, didn’t he?”

 

Shouyou groaned and put his head in his hands, “I don’t even know anymore. I want to give up on this, on everything. Is there even a point in liking someone who would never return my feelings, anyways?”

 

Tadashi looked at him, not sure what to say to encourage him. “Do you still like him?”

 

Shouyou squeezed his eyes shut, “I don’t know. At times, I feel like I do, but then I think about how he doesn’t love me back and then I get depressed and cry. What has my life come to?” Shouyou sighed.

 

“You don’t hate him, yet you don’t know if you love him.” Tadashi chuckled, “You guys are so equally complicated, it’s like you’re meant for each other.”

 

Shouyou pouted intensely, “Would it be normal if I said I still like him?”

 

“You’re almost _too_ normal.” Tadashi laughed, answering like he was expecting the question. “Emotions like that can’t be put out so easily. It’s only weird if all they’ve ever done is treat you badly. If Tobio was like that, I’d be concerned for you.”

 

“So…it’s okay for me to go?” Shouyou looked up at Tadashi with wide eyes.

 

“It’s not like you need my permission.” Tadashi smiled widely, “You should go and have fun.”

 

Shouyou smiled, “Thanks, Tadashi.” Shouyou stood up and grabbed the party invitation, “For, y’know, dealing with me.”

 

Just as Shouyou was about to turn and leave, Tadashi reached out and slipped his hand onto Shouyou’s face delicately, brushing at his cheek with his thumb. “You’ve been crying again, haven’t you?”

 

Shouyou almost laughed at how effortlessly Tadashi could detect these things.

 

“Did you let Tobio see you like this?”

 

“No.” Shouyou averted his eyes, pursing his lips; “I didn’t let him in when he came to give me the invitation.”

 

“Shouyou, don’t be rude.” Tadashi scolded lightly.

 

“Well, at the time I looked even more of a mess!” Shouyou said defensively, “It would’ve been embarrassing if he saw me.” Shouyou pouted.

 

“Your tears aren’t embarrassing.” Tadashi moved his hand up and gave Shouyou’s head a little rub. “I’ll see you later, yeah?”

 

Shouyou beamed, “Yeah!”

 

* * *

 

When Shouyou arrived at the venue, he was entirely too nervous. He wasn’t even sure why he felt like this. All the people already there were bustling around and busy looking important. Shouyou felt a little small.

 

The party was apparently hosted by Tragedy, but the invitation that was given to Shouyou didn’t specify where Tobio would meet him. So now he was stuck just wobbling around the place.

 

The invitation had mentioned that it would be a small party. Well, it certainly wasn’t the size of the party Sun held every few thousand years, but it certainly wasn’t modest in the slightest. Shouyou could see the precise placing of furniture and décor, the lengthy dimension of the buffet table, the elegant chandeliers.

 

Shouyou spied a bar a few meters ahead and decided he needed a drink to calm his nerves. It wasn’t like there was anything else to do. So he set off at a brisk pace in a straight line right towards it.

 

And maybe he’d been too focused on his goal, or possibly too distracted by what the night would bring, or maybe his eyesight was going, but before Shouyou could even walk ten steps, he rammed directly into some kind of wall.

 

Shouyou yelped in alarm as he teetered backwards and eventually fell. He allowed himself a little bit of time lying on the floor, groaning and waiting for the dizziness to ebb away before he sat up quickly to assess the situation. How could he have _not_ seen a wall _right there_?

 

He looked up to see that, in fact, it _wasn’t_ a wall. It was a person. A rather tall, intimidating person with his hair swept backwards neatly with a band securing it in place. His eyes were set in a glare, and if that wasn’t permanent, his scowl certainly was.

 

Shouyou changed the irritated growl on his tongue to a cowardly whimper, thinking better of scolding this stranger about watching his step. He flinched when the man leaned slightly over.

 

“A-are you okay?!” His voice was shrill, definitely panicky, and the daunting expression Shouyou thought he had was morphed into one of horror. Shouyou relaxed, guessing that this man probably wasn’t dangerous despite the stubble and hairstyle that made him appear a threatening character.

 

Shouyou watched, slightly amused, as the taller tried to explain with stammers and hand gestures that he had been walking to the other side of the room, perpendicular to Shouyou, when he’d accidentally knocked him over. He said he was incredibly sorry for not having seen him.

 

“No, it’s my fault. I’m sorry,” Shouyou said as he stood back up, “I wasn’t looking where I was going and I was walking too fast anyways.”

 

“No, it’s alright.” The man shook his head. “What’s your name?”

 

“Shouyou. Nice to meet you.” Shouyou stuck a hand out. “And you?”

 

“Ah, um,” He rubbed his nape shyly, “I’m War.”

 

“Oh crap, you’re a divine spirit,” Shouyou thought out loud, “I’m sorry for speaking so informally.”

 

“I don’t mind.” War said. Shouyou reevaluated him. Even though he looked the way he did, he was much more timid than Shouyou had expected. He spoke quietly and modestly, with a sense of respect for everyone even as a divine spirit himself. Shouyou wondered briefly where he’d heard his name mentioned before.

 

“I have somewhere to be right now, Shouyou,” War began, “So I’m afraid that I’ll have to go. So sorry, again, for bumping into you.” He smiled softly. “I’ll see you around.”

 

“Yeah, I’ll see you around.” Shouyou parroted, amazed at the amount of humility War had, for apologizing for something that wasn’t even his fault. He shuffled off into the crowd and Shouyou continued his journey to the bar.

 

There was a huge selection of drinks available and Shouyou was at something of a loss. It appeared that it was one of those ‘do it yourself’ kinds of things so Shouyou chose something that best suited the ‘will not get me drunk, but _will_ slightly calm my nerves, but not exactly give me enough courage to the extent of reckless endeavors’ category. He picked up a pretty, clear bottle of _something or other_ and poured himself a shot. He put in dabs of other liquids, just for the fun of it, and ended up with a frightening, blood orange beverage.

 

Shouyou made an internal promise to only drink the one tonight and downed it quickly. Once the initial burning in his throat subsided, he set out to find somebody he knew.

 

There seemed to be quite a lot of commotion coming from the center of the room, and as Shouyou approached, he heard loud, booming laughter that he vaguely recognized. He jumped up and down, trying to look over people’s head to see who it was.

 

Shouyou identified him at once. He waved his hand as he continued jumping, hoping to draw some attention. “Tragedy! Hey!”

 

Tragedy was dressed smartly for the occasion: a white dress shirt, a black blazer, and black pants. He wore a golden tie with little black dots scattered on it, matching the golden pocket square in his breast pocket. He chatted easily with his guests, responding to everyone’s questions and comments with a cool smile.

 

Although Shouyou persisted with his jumping and waving, it didn’t seem like Tragedy had the time to spare for even a small greeting. Shouyou glanced at his watch and sighed. He still hadn’t seen Tobio yet, even though the best place to find him would’ve probably been next to Tragedy. Alas, it didn’t seem like he was there, so Shouyou moved on.

 

Shouyou glanced at the faces he passed, hoping to find some familiarity in them. He couldn’t fathom why there were so many people he didn’t know. Sun and Tragedy were somewhat in the same friend group, so Shouyou was certain that he’d know at least half of the guests here.

 

Maybe he just wasn’t looking in the right spot.

 

“Ah!” Shouyou froze in his step, a sudden revelation sparking in his mind. “His name was War!” And with that said (much to the confusion of others around him), he set off in the direction of where his recent acquaintance had gone.

 

When he found him, Shouyou’s grin widened uncontrollably. His feet moved on his own and before he knew it, he was fully sprinting and pouncing on the shorter man next to War. “Yuu! You’re here!”

 

“Wha-!” The two bodies clashed chaotically, one overwhelmed by a sudden, brutal force as the other practically shook with excitement. With flailing arms and limbs, the duo stumbled and, by some sort of miracle, managed to stay upright.

 

“Eh? Shouyou?!” Yuu recovered from his shock, a smile spreading across his face as he moved to hold Shouyou at an arm’s distance. “I didn’t know you got an invitation!”

 

“Well, I mean, it was all pretty sudden.” Shouyou said, all too happy to have found a friend within the crowd.

 

“Yeah, it was.” Yuu nodded. He gestured to War, “Let me introduce you guys.”

 

“Oh, no need.” Shouyou said and turned to War, “We’ve already met.”

 

“You have? When?”

 

“We sort of…ran into each other.”

 

A look of confusion settled on Yuu’s face before he burst out laughing. “You’re the guy Asahi knocked flying?”

 

War spluttered, “ _Yuu_!” Shouyou laughed along, falling easily in step with Yuu’s joyous aura.

 

“So, how have you been?” Yuu inquired. Shouyou smiled and shrugged, not really wanting to think about all the happenings of the last few days or get into a lengthy explanation. There was no point in bringing down his mood after finally finding someone to talk to. He waved Yuu’s question off with a casual “I’m doing great.”

 

He gestured at his companion, “What about you?”

 

“Better than ever.” Yuu grinned, leaning into War’s side. War’s hand moved automatically, wrapping delicately around Yuu’s waist to protect him from losing his balance. It didn’t escape Shouyou’s observant eyes.

 

“You guys make a great couple.” Shouyou said, to which Yuu responded with a delighted beam.

 

“Thanks for saying so, Shouyou!” Yuu chuckled, a tone of modesty in his voice even though Shouyou knew that he was glowing with happiness from a single compliment.

 

The trio continued to chat and Shouyou noticed curiously how the couple was always touching in some way. They held hands; they leaned into each other’s warmth. Yuu constantly traced small shapes onto War’s hand with his thumb. In return, War would kiss him quickly on the temple whenever Yuu said something that he found endearing. Shouyou wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to handle their company.

 

As Shouyou listened intently to Yuu’s tale of backpacking through the burning embers on Scorch Mountain, War wobbled next to him. Shouyou noticed the slight movement. War seemed to look quite confused as well and craned his neck to look behind him. Shouyou heard a high-pitched ‘Eek!’

 

Yuu stopped talking when he heard it as well. Both him and Shouyou peeked around War’s body to see a girl cowering there. Then they both shouted in surprise and delight.

 

“Hitoka!”

 

The girl flinched at her name being called so loudly, but she did relax a bit. She said her own greeting much more quietly, “Hi, Yuu. Good to see you, Shouyou.”

 

War turned around. “Sorry, Hitoka. Did I scare you?”

 

“Ah!” She looked somewhat shocked, “So it’s you, Asahi! I thought you were some kind of dressed up thug.”

 

He deflated at that, “Just what do you think I am?” Yuu laughed heartily and clapped her on the back multiple times, obviously finding a lot of amusement in the situation.

 

“Did you come here with Kiyoko?”

 

“I did!” Hitoka nodded, glancing backwards, “That’s strange. She was right behind me.”

 

“She probably got lost in the crowd.” Shouyou suggested.

 

“Or maybe _I_ got lost in the crowd.” Hitoka sighed. “Again.”

 

“I’m sure she’s coming to find you. Why don’t we do some catching up?”

 

“Ooh, good idea.” Hitoka perked up and immediately bombarded Shouyou with questions. Before she could target Yuu and War, they had excused themselves with a subtle wave. Shouyou begged with his eyes for them to stay but they turned their faces away quickly.

 

“So how’s it been? Are you staying healthy? Eating three meals a day?” Hitoka asked, eyes shining as if she had immense fun interrogating a poor soul about his health, “Not too stressed, I hope? Do you exercise regularly? Oh, what about-“

 

Shouyou cut her off with a laugh, “Slow down, Hitoka. One at a time.”

 

“Oh, sorry.” Hitoka smiled apologetically and took a breath. “One at a time, okay. How’s it going, Shouyou?”

 

“I’m doing very good.” Shouyou answered, “And what about you?”

 

“Very good, very good.” Hitoka nodded as she spoke. “Have there been any new developments in your life?”

 

This one caught Shouyou off guard. “Um…” He hesitated, “I guess…there have been some. Why do you ask?”

 

“Oh, nothing in particular.” Hitoka said, “It’s just…the last time we met, Kiyoko did something strange, didn’t she?”

 

“She did?” Shouyou questioned, not recalling the event.

 

Hitoka nodded and placed a small hand on Shouyou’s shoulder. “She did this…and then she giggled a little bit. She must have seen your fate, I imagine.”

 

Shouyou hummed as he remembered that something similar had happened a few months ago. “Did she not tell you?”

 

“Oh, no. Kiyoko doesn’t disclose any information of anybody else’s fates.” Hitoka explained. “I was just wondering if anything happened in the time we haven’t seen you.”

 

Shouyou had to quickly decide whether or not to tell her anything about the previous months. On one hand, it was a perfect opportunity to spit out his uncertainties and feelings once and for all, but on the other hand, Hitoka might get upset to hear that Fate had made a mistake when she saw his future. His love life was a complete mess, which was strange because if Fate had seen its course that night, she wouldn’t have smiled about it. There must’ve been some kind of error. Or Shouyou had somehow screwed up along the way.

 

Before Shouyou could even finish his train of thought, Hitoka spoke again. “You don’t have to tell me anything!” She reassured him when she saw his facial expression shift, but Shouyou mentally cursed himself for having a nonexistent poker face. She looked at him with a hint of concern. “Are you…happy, Shouyou?”

 

And Shouyou so desperately wanted to say no. To say that these days, a lot of things weren’t going the way they were supposed to. To say that he’d gotten his hopes up to only come crashing back down to reality with the sickening, shattering sound of his heart breaking into tiny, tiny pieces. And it was all because he set himself up for it.

 

“I’m happy.” Shouyou thanked his voice for not cracking, and his eyes for not tearing up. He looked down at his polished shoes. “I’m happy.”

 

* * *

 

“Eek!” Hitoka squealed halfway into her sentence as two hands grabbed onto her waist from behind. Shouyou jumped a little as well from the sudden noise. He couldn’t tell if Hitoka had reacted like that because it felt ticklish or because it was unexpected. A second later, the person put her chin onto Hitoka’s shoulder, smiling smugly, a glint in her eyes.

 

“Kiyoko!” Hitoka gasped and then whined, “Stop doing that to me.”

 

“Sorry, Hitoka.” Kiyoko finished wrapping her arms are Hitoka’s waist so she was hugging her wife from behind. “I just love your reactions.”

 

Hitoka pouted.

 

“Hello there, Shouyou.” Fate addressed him.

 

“Hi, Fate!” Shouyou smiled. He watched her nuzzle into Hitoka’s shoulder, making the short blond glow with happiness, sharing coy glances at each other like they were still newlyweds.

 

“Thanks for stalling my runaway wife. I finally caught up.” Fate chuckled.

 

“Yeah, no problem.” Shouyou said politely, not really sure how to continue the conversation.

 

“Speaking of which, where did you go off to anyways? I thought you were following me.” Hitoka asked.

 

“I met some friends so I stopped to chat. I was going to stop you but you walked away so fast.” Fate explained. “It’s amazing how fast you can move with such tiny strides.”

 

“Is that…supposed to be a compliment?”

 

Fate kissed the crown of Hitoka’s head, “Of course it is, my love.”

 

Shouyou wondered why everyone seemed to be so lovey-dovey tonight. Or maybe they had always been like that, and it had taken him this long to notice? _Surely_ it couldn’t get even more mushy now that Fate had been reunited with Hitoka.

 

“Kiyoko! Oh, thank goodness we found you.” And in came stumbling two well-dressed men, holding hands and panting. _Never mind_.

 

“What do you mean? I was talking to you five minutes ago.” Fate questioned, a slightly confused expression on her face. Hitoka waved when she saw them, “Daichi! Koushi! How are you guys?”

 

Shouyou stared between the two parties helplessly.

 

“Oh, Hitoka! Hi there.” Youth grinned. Memory stepped around him and held out something in his hand to Fate.

 

“You left in such a hurry that you dropped this.”

 

“Oh!” Fate took the object, “It’s my hairpin…thank you. ”

 

“You’re welcome.” Memory beamed.

 

Fate held a hand to her mouth to stifle a quiet laugh, “I appreciate the gesture, but you guys really didn’t need to sprint to come look for me. It’s just a hairpin.”

 

“It’s not _just a hairpin_ ,” Youth put a hand on his hip, “Hitoka gave it to you as an anniversary present. You have to take care of it.” Fate hummed agreement as she gracefully swept her bangs to the side and held it there with the floral pin. Hitoka beside her looked almost ready to faint, overcome with so much emotion so easily that Shouyou took a few steps closer to catch her if she fell.

 

Youth noticed the slight movement out of the corner of his eye. “Oh my, I didn’t notice you there, Shouyou.”

 

Shouyou bowed slightly, greeting them easily, “Nice to meet you again, Youth. Memory.”

 

“How’s your brother doing? Tadashi was his name, wasn’t it?” Youth asked, smiling angelically.

 

“Oh, he’s doing great. I’m surprised you remembered.” Shouyou said, “Kei’s also doing fine. Y’know, that tall, cranky blond you treated that night.”

 

“Ah, yes, I remember.” Youth chuckled, “Well, I’m glad to hear it.”

 

Shouyou fidgeted where he stood, rising onto the balls of his feet and then sinking down slowly.

 

“So what have you been doing lately?” Youth asked, genuinely interested instead of faking politeness.

 

Shouyou thought about it, “I went to an ice planet a while ago.”

 

“Oh!” Youth looked intrigued, “I’ve always wanted to visit one. How was it?” His eyes shone with curiosity.

 

“I…uh…” Shouyou laughed nervously, “I almost died?”

 

“What?!” Youth seemed offended at the very idea.

 

“I must have gone when the ice wasn’t very solid. There’s no need to worry about it.” Shouyou explained, not really knowing why he was lying through his teeth because he knew _very well_ why that cave had collapsed.

 

“I hope you’re not hurt?” Youth said, a look of concern on his face.

 

Shouyou shook his head. “Not hurt at all.”

 

“Oh. Well,” Youth relaxed, his breathing returning to normal, “Be careful next time, okay?”

 

“You sound like a mom.” Memory’s voice suddenly piped up.

 

Youth elbowed him. Hard.

 

“Gah!” Memory doubled over with a pained expression as Shouyou tried not to laugh. Youth smiled down at his husband. “Hush, Daichi. I’m just giving the boy some good advice.”

 

Shouyou couldn’t contain his giggle, “Thank you, Youth.”

 

“Oh please, Shouyou. Call me Koushi.” He tilted his head in Shouyou’s direction, giving him permission.

 

“Really?” Shouyou smiled, “Then Koushi it is.”

 

As Memory straightened back up, he gently tapped Koushi’s arm. “I think I saw Tooru just now.”

 

“Oh dear, not again.” Koushi said exasperatedly, a slight fondness in his smile. “Did you see Hajime too?”

 

Memory craned his neck to see through the mass of swarming people, “Yeah, I see him.”

 

“Tooru? Hajime?” Shouyou asked, confused.

 

“Our good friends.” Koushi clarified and Memory huffed at the choice of words. “Maybe we’ll introduce you next time.”

 

“Are they my age?” Shouyou grinned, excited at the prospect of new friends.

 

Koushi chuckled, “They’re actually divine spirits; Mischief and Wisdom. Have you heard of them?”

 

“Oh! I have!”

 

Memory shook Koushi’s arm, “Hurry, they’re getting away.”

 

“I told you not to pick another fight with them.” Koushi sighed.

 

“It’s not a fight. I’m just proving I’m stronger through arm-wrestling.”

 

Koushi scoffed, “Fat chance you’re gonna beat Hajime.”

 

“Watch me.” Memory’s eyes shone with competition.

 

“Well, I guess we’ll be taking our leave.” Koushi looked at Shouyou apologetically. “See you, Shouyou.”

 

“Yup! Bye, Koushi. Bye, Memory.” Shouyou sent them off with a wave. He turned around to see if Hitoka and Fate were still there. He watched curiously as the shorter one pulled on her wife’s arm.

 

“You’re going to go watch them, aren’t you?”

 

“Well, they’re always so amusing, don’t you think?” Fate patted Hitoka’s head. “C’mon, let’s go watch together.”

 

Hitoka hesitated. “Okay…but I’m leaving if it gets even a little bit violent.”

 

“Fair enough.” Fate smiled and turned to see Shouyou looking in their direction, “Do you want to come with us, Shouyou?”

 

Shouyou shook his head, “I’d love to, but I think I’ll go get myself another drink.”

 

* * *

 

Among all the talk and festivities, Shouyou had almost forgotten his original goal of finding Tobio. If only he could just magically show up in front of him, Shouyou thought solemnly. Time seemed to pass very slowly this evening.

 

Shouyou froze in his step suddenly. A thought flashed in his mind and he felt his spine go rigidly cold. Was there a possibility…that Tobio stood him up?

 

Shouyou shook his head vigorously. He shouldn’t think like this. Nothing good was going to come out of it. He stared down at his feet. Doubting Tobio was the last thing he wanted to do.

 

Of course, it’s not like he’s had any choice these past few days.

 

Shouyou felt his heart beating harder, his breathing becoming frantic. He shut his eyes tightly and clenched his hands, letting his nails dig into his palms. _Calm down, calm down, calm down._

 

He opened his eyes wide enough to see a path towards the wall. He stumbled to it and pressed his back against it. _Deep breaths, deep breaths._ He slid down and sat on his heels, pressing his head to his knees. He tried following the instructions his mind was desperately feeding to him, but the hard thumping in his chest distracted him. _Don’t shake. Don’t cry._

 

He heard murmurs from the crowd around him but he ignored those easily. The rush of blood in his ears completely blocked it out. _He didn’t abandon me._

 

“He didn’t abandon me.” Shouyou whispered. He repeated it to himself, said it again and again until he was tripping over the words like a child. He sat still with his arms over his head like a shield. He panted even though he wasn’t exerted and his body felt like it was on fire and covered in ice all at once. Eventually, his breathing slowly returned to normal, his heartbeat settled. The sweat on his skin cooled him down.

 

“I won’t abandon him.”

 

Shouyou waited until he was sure that his body was finally okay before standing up. People shuffled by with concerned looks. Shouyou rubbed his eyes slowly, “I need a drink.”

 

Shouyou’s throat felt dry. The mini-panic attack had taken its toll on him. For some reason, the amount of attacks had been slowly increasing for the last week, and it wasn’t like Shouyou at all. He hated how little control he had over his own body.

 

As he walked, he noticed that everyone else was giving him a wide berth. He looked down at himself to see if something was out of place. All over his hands and trailing onto the cuffs of his suit were streaks of fire, small and weak in the breeze. Shouyou hummed to himself, twirling the flames around his fingers.

 

He was about to put them out when a large object slammed into his back and knocked him straight onto the floor. Shouyou barely had any time to cry out in alarm before the thing fell right on him. The fire was snuffed out immediately.

 

“Well, I’ve got some perfect luck tonight, don’t I?” Shouyou mused to the floor, his voice muffled to any outsiders. He felt the object on him move, followed by a string of curse words. Shouyou turned his head to the side, trying to catch a glimpse of his offender.

 

“I thought I knew that voice from somewhere.” Shouyou rolled his eyes. “Did you really have to fall on me, Koutarou?”

 

The man in question looked down at the shorter sprawled all over the floor and smiled radiantly, “Well, look who it is! Our favorite little redhead showed up!”

 

And in a flash, Tetsurou appeared beside his best friend with a wicked grin. “Ohoho? It’s true!” He crouched down to push Koutarou off and help Shouyou stand back up, “Sorry for that, Shouyou. That was purely Koutarou’s fault.”

 

“Like hell it was!” Koutarou cried, looking at Shouyou, “He pushed me!” Before Shouyou could respond, another voice piped up.

 

“What’s all this noise?” Keiji stepped out from the crowd, looking as calm as ever.

 

“Tetsurou pushed me!” Koutarou accused as he pointed at said man, “And then I accidentally fell on Shouyou.”

 

“You _fell_ on him?”

 

“It was an accident!”

 

Shouyou stood stunned in the middle of their group, feeling as if the whole scene was moving a little too fast for him. He had barely uttered a single word this entire time and here everyone else was, having a totally normal conversation as if it was a standard thing to do after what just took place.

 

As Shouyou remained speechless, Keiji walked right up to him and gave him a hug. Shouyou’s brain stopped working.

 

“You poor thing, are you okay? You’re not hurt are you?” Keiji’s soothing voice calmed Shouyou’s nerves. He shook his head. “Do you need me to get a doctor?”

 

“Hey!” Koutarou exclaimed, “I didn’t sit on him _that_ hard!”

 

“Did you even apologize?” Keiji scolded as he patted Shouyou’s ruffled curls.

 

“S-sorry, Shouyou…” Koutarou looked down guiltily. Tetsurou shook with laughter beside him.

 

“Sorry for them, Shouyou.” Keiji broke the hug and stepped back, “They might be a little tipsy.”

 

Shouyou shook his head, “You don’t need to apologize, Keiji. I know what they’re like after one glass.”

 

Keiji chuckled, “It just seems like a shame to meet you again in this kind of circumstance.”

 

“It does, doesn’t it?” Shouyou rubbed the back of his neck, grinning as he watched the other two quarrel about something trivial. “Is Kenma not with you guys?”

 

“Ah, you know how he’d rather stay in and play games than come here and socialize.” Keiji shrugged like it was self-explanatory.

 

“I thought Tetsurou would’ve convinced him somehow.” Shouyou pondered.

 

“Well…” Keiji glanced at the man currently fighting to wrestle Koutarou’s hair down, “He tried.”

 

“Still getting rejected?” Shouyou sighed, though he wasn’t surprised.

 

“Believe it or not, he’s actually getting pretty close.”

 

Shouyou looked at Keiji with raised eyebrows, “Oh, really? He has?”

 

“He’s working hard.” Keiji chuckled and turned his head, peering over Shouyou’s orange locks, “Shall we go have some drinks?”

 

“I’d love to.” Shouyou accepted. “What about those two clowns?” He pointed. The two rowdy men were now engaged in an intense game of Chopsticks, neither side backing down. Tetsurou grinned as he gained the upper hand, ready to attack with his perfectly plotted strategy like he was playing chess instead of a silly child’s game.

 

“Koutarou.” Keiji called out. Immediately, Koutarou’s hands were down by his sides (much to Tetsurou’s dismay). He walked over quickly with a smile on his face.

 

“Yes, love?” If he had a tail, it would’ve been wagging furiously.

 

“We’re going to have drinks. Care to join us?”

 

Koutarou perked up even more, if that was possible, “Of course!”

 

“And just to clarify, _we’re_ having drinks,” Keiji gestured to him and Shouyou, “ _You’re_ gonna drink water with Tetsurou.”

 

Koutarou gasped, “Keiji! It’s a party for a reason!”

 

“I know what type of shenanigans you get up to when you’re drunk.” Keiji looked at him sternly, “And I also know how easily you get drunk.”

 

“I won’t get drunk, I promise!” Koutarou pleaded.

 

“And what if you do?” Keiji raised an eyebrow inquiringly.

 

“Then you can come up with a punishment for me!”

 

“Fine. That seems fair.” Keiji smirked merrily, “If I catch you drunk, you’re not getting anymore kisses.”

 

Koutarou took a step back warily, considering it. “Fine, okay.”

 

“…For a week.” Keiji added, an unexpected mischievous side hidden beneath his normal demeanor. Shouyou guessed that he probably didn’t get many chances to mess around with Koutarou, what with Tetsurou there to do it all the time anyways.

 

Koutarou seemed to be struggling with these new stakes at play. His inner turmoil clearly showed on his face as he debated which was more important: having a fun night, drunk and merry, but risk getting romantically neglected by Keiji, or just obeying his boyfriend and remaining sober. A moment passed as his mind churned for the appropriate answer, weighing the two carefully.

 

He lowered his head glumly, “I’ll drink the water.”

 

“Thank you.” Keiji planted a small kiss on his cheek, satisfied with Koutarou’s decision.

 

Shouyou nudged Keiji’s arm, “What do you want to drink? I’ll go make it.”

 

“It’s one of those DIY things, is it not? I’d like to try making one.” Keiji said, a little excited.

 

“Really? It’s actually quite professional. They’ve got all the freshest juices and syrups. I’m no expert, and I already tried it earlier, so I’m going to stick with the premade drinks.”

 

Shouyou and Keiji made their way to the bar, chatting easily while the other two trailed behind. Shouyou watched as his new friend created his own concoction and downed it bravely. He expected at least a little gagging, but all he got was a very distorted face and slightly watery eyes.

 

Keiji pushed the cup away and grabbed something a little tamer to soothe his taste buds. “That wasn’t a good idea.”

 

Shouyou peeled with laughter, “I know right? The one I made was absolutely _terrifying._ ”

 

Keiji sipped at his liquor, “Speaking of terrifying, there was a guy who came up to me earlier tonight.”

 

“Oh?” Shouyou’s interest was peaked.

 

“I actually meant to tell you when I first saw you, but everything was a bit hectic.” Keiji said, his tone apologetic, “So, the guy ran over to me, looking like a total mess, and he’s got this desperate look in his eyes. I asked him if he needed some help but he shook his head and just said ‘I’m looking for Shouyou. Have you seen him?’”

 

Shouyou looked at Keiji, puzzled at this information. “Did you catch his name?”

 

“He rushed off before I could ask.” Keiji shrugged, “Are you in some kind of trouble, Shouyou? He looked quite distraught.”

 

Shouyou reflected on his actions, evaluating them to see if he had accidentally angered anybody. “Did he have dark hair?”

 

“Yes, he did. I’ve seen him around before, but he always looked rather unapproachable.”

 

“Was he about your height? Sharp facial features and weirdly-parted hair?” Shouyou caught on quickly.

 

Keiji thought about it, “A little shorter than me, I think. He’s got sharp eyes, that’s true, but I wouldn’t know about the hair. I didn’t get a good look, but I know it was black.”

 

“Keiji, I have to go.” Shouyou placed his cup, still completely full, down on the table, “Did you see where the guy went? I have to find him.”

 

“Oh, he could be anywhere.” Keiji said and pointed into the crowd, “He went in this direction when I saw him last. Do you know who he is?”

 

“He’s called Tobio. I’m surprised that Tragedy never introduced his son to you.” Shouyou raised an eyebrow.

 

“Oh, he’s Tragedy’s son? Well, Tradegy and I aren’t very close, just acquaintances.” Keiji explained, “Good luck trying to find him. I’ll see you later, okay?”

 

“Thanks for telling me, Keiji.” Shouyou set off once again, “Tell Koutarou and Tetsurou that I’ll be leaving now.”

 

“Will do.” Shouyou saw Keiji wave back before the crowd engulfed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys~ I’m back from my unplanned mini-hiatus. Sorry for making you wait so long!! This chapter was actually supposed to be the last one, but I decided to change it a bit. Originally, more of the story was supposed to go into this but then I realized that I was already at 6000 something words. I figured instead of making you wait even longer for something that’s around 11,000 words, I’d split it into two chapters!
> 
> So, this isn’t the last chapter!!!! The next one is :D
> 
> I know that long chapters can sometimes put off a lot of readers (I can barely read that much without getting drowsy) so I didn’t want to force you guys to have to read something so lengthy. 
> 
> On a different note, I have very little time to work on writing these days, so I always make myself do homework ahead of time so I can write on the weekends. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. So, please continue to be patient with me~
> 
> Thanks for the support and for reading :)


	11. Chapter 11

Shouyou wasn’t sure where else he could search. He was positive he’d looked _everywhere_ already: at the buffet table, in the dark corners of the room, behind the plant pots. For being such a tall, intimidating person, Tobio had a knack for being extremely elusive. Shouyou huffed unhappily as he walked about with absolutely no aim, looking up to see if he could find a certain grumpy (albeit handsome) face in the crowd.

 

“Tobio!” Shouyou shouted loudly, causing all of the people around him to flinch suddenly. “I’m over here! Come find me!” They cast him weird looks and then exchanged worried glances with each other, a silent conversation about whether they should get this screaming boy some help. Shouyou ignored them, walking away to go yell somewhere else.

 

“Where are you? Tobio!” Shouyou called out, cupping his hands around his mouth. He frowned when there was no answer. _Surely_ half the ballroom had heard him by now. He formed a large fireball in his hand. A couple bystanders watched him warily. He threw it high into the air and made it pop with a _bang!_ Sparks rained down and faded before it could catch anything on fire.

 

Shouyou smiled slyly as heads turned around to see what the commotion was. Now, _this_ was something he was good at: getting people’s attention. He threw two more in succession, grinning as he made the fire twirl and dance before popping loudly.

 

Shouyou turned to the first person he saw. He set his determined eyes on his victim, “You there! I’m looking for a guy called Tobio! Spread the word!” The young man stared back, extremely dumbfounded by the sudden request. He hesitantly nodded as Shouyou trekked off somewhere else. As he strolled, he continued with his fire frenzy, making sure to control it with his best abilities so nothing catastrophic would happen.

 

“Shouyou! What are you doing?” Shouyou turned at the mention of his name to see Yuu behind him, looking quite shocked. War stood next to him with a horrified expression.

 

“Hey, Yuu! We meet again.” Shouyou grinned.

 

“What’s with all the fire-tossing?” Yuu asked, gaping.

 

“I’m looking for someone called Tobio. Tell me if you see him.” Shouyou explained briefly.

 

“Did something happen? You didn’t seem so lively before.” Yuu questioned.

 

Shouyou hummed as he thought about it. “Nothing really happened. I just don’t feel like sulking anymore.”

 

Yuu tilted his head like he didn’t quite understand but even so, a giant grin fell on his face, “I don’t really get it, but if you’re happy, I’m happy!” He cheered. “Keep going!”

 

War winced as another fireball exploded in the air. “Surely there must be some calmer way of finding someone.” His eyebrows were closely knitted together which made him appear worried and upset at the same time.

 

“Don’t listen to him, Shouyou.” Yuu laughed, “Asahi’s a big baby.”

 

“I’m heading over there to look for him.” Shouyou pointed to another corner of the room, “Tell me if you see anything.”

 

“I’m on it!” Yuu called after him as he walked away. Shouyou formed a new fireball, this time with the flames wrapped around it to make it smooth and glossy. He tossed it into the air, caught it, and tossed it again. Shouyou was sure that Tobio wouldn’t ignore the prospect of a volleyball game. Shouyou could just imagine him bursting forth from the crowd so he could set up a toss for him. He giggled at the idea. The plan was foolproof. He’d lure him in with his favorite things.

 

As Shouyou followed the ball with his eyes, bobbing his head up and down with the ball’s rhythm, he felt somebody grab his wrist. Shouyou jolted violently with surprise, letting the ball fall to the ground with a couple bounces. Shouyou glanced up to meet the deep blue of Tobio’s eyes. His chest was heaving, like he had just spent all his energy sprinting here; his grip was tight. Tobio stood for a moment, calming his breathing before he whispered a determined “Found you.”

 

Shouyou stared, stunned, before smiling, “Hi.”

 

“Who gave you permission to start throwing fire around?” Tobio looked at the glowing ball on the floor.

 

“Nobody.” Shouyou flicked his wrist and the ball disappeared, “Just thought it might draw some attention so a _certain someone_ could find me.”

 

“It’s not an easy task trying to find someone of your height in this crowd,” Tobio said, a smirk pulling on his lips. He let go of Shouyou’s wrist.

 

Before Shouyou could respond, Tobio turned on his heel, “Follow me. I want to show you something.”

 

Shouyou did as he was told. He observed Tobio from the back, skimming over the nicely fitted suit and the attractive shoes. He couldn’t determine if he was happy or frustrated to see him. Shouyou chided himself to be more positive but distant visions of Tobio’s angry remarks floated in the back of his mind.

 

Shouyou turned his head down so he was staring at his own shoes as he walked. Did he seem too stiff? Was he walking funny? Shouyou shook out his hands. This was not the time to get nervous, yet his hands had the audacity to start getting clammy. All of a sudden, Shouyou realized that he had absolutely _no plan of action_.

 

He held his hands up to his face in panic. What was he going to do now? Obviously, he had to tell Tobio how he felt. What, like a second confession? Shouyou pouted at the idea. Tell him ‘I’m a stubborn idiot and I still really, _really_ like you’? Shouyou shook his head. If Tobio hadn’t caught on that Shouyou’s stubborn and childish, then there was no hope for the guy.

 

And then there was the issue of Tobio’s reaction. Shouyou scrunched up his nose. What if he reacted badly again? And his mood is ruined for the whole night? Shouyou worried incessantly. Maybe he could do it subtly, quietly, nothing very flashy. Shouyou crossed his arms and thought hard.

 

“Is something wrong?” Tobio’s voice pulled Shouyou out of his trance. Shouyou looked up and shook his head. He stared incredulously as he saw where Tobio had led him.

 

The sparkling chandelier flashed brilliantly over the sleek, wooden floor. The sound of rhythmic footsteps fell in time with the music, mixing together with the conversation of admiring bystanders. Satin and silk skirts flew about as ladies spun around, letting the men guide them with their bold smiles and confident steps.

 

“Tobio, you know this is the dance floor, right?” Shouyou gawked, disbelieving.

 

“Well, I hope it is, or else this’ll be awkward.” Tobio held out his hand nonchalantly, “Will you dance with me, Shouyou?”

 

Shouyou stared at his outstretched hand and then glanced at Tobio’s face with a worried expression. “Tobio, you can’t dance. Are you feeling okay?”

 

Immediately, Tobio’s face fell into a pout and he turned his head away. “I know how to dance.” Shouyou’s eyes widened as he saw Tobio’s ears turn a light red. “I learned how to.”

 

“Oh.” Shouyou’s mouth was slack as he dumbly nodded and took Tobio’s hand. Tobio smiled with a sigh of relief. Shouyou watched the blush on Tobio’s face fade slowly, replaced by his widening grin, and Shouyou almost wanted to ask if he was either dead or dreaming. _What an unexpected turn of events_.

 

“Do you mind if I lead?” Tobio asked considerately, his hold on Shouyou’s hand tightening. _This_ must _be a dream_.

 

“Ah- uh, no.” Shouyou finally responded after staring for a few seconds too long, trying to debate if this was the afterlife or not. Shouyou looked down at himself incredulously; where had all his previous confidence gone?

 

He watched as the couples on the dance floor came to a stop and the music slowed. They politely bowed to their partners, marking the end of the dance, and left with an air of coquetry, the women fluttering their eyelashes and the men squaring their shoulders. Shouyou stared at his hand in Tobio’s.

 

New couples flooded the floor to dance and Tobio tugged Shouyou after him. After securing a spot, a new song began. Shouyou distantly recognized the tune, though he couldn’t concentrate too well with his body pressed so close to Tobio’s, hand on his shoulder, almost hovering with nervousness. His feet moved automatically.

 

It took Shouyou a moment before he realized that Tobio really _did_ learn how to dance and, by the looks of it, had gotten quite decent at it. His footwork wasn’t nearly as clumsy as it had been when they first danced, and his posture was consistent. Shouyou felt a small smile spread on his lips.

 

“Hey.” Tobio’s voice was impossibly soft and Shouyou nearly mistook him for someone else. He looked up into Tobio’s eyes. “Hm?”

 

“I need to tell you something.” Shouyou could see the unease on his face, plain and obvious. Tobio broke eye contact and looked away anxiously. Shouyou gulped.

 

“What is it?”

 

Tobio opened his mouth before he closed it again, like he was mulling over what to say very carefully. He repeated the action several times, always frowning right before his voice came out and Shouyou was reminded of a gasping fish on land. Shouyou waited patiently as he focused on dancing and making sure his hands weren’t sweaty. Eventually, Tobio spoke up.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

Shouyou’s eyes widened and he looked back to Tobio’s guilt-ridden features. Now it was Shouyou’s turn to be speechless. His mouth flapped up and down in disbelief. “You’re…sorry?”

 

“I’m sorry.” Tobio took a deep breath. “I’m sorry for all those things I said to you. I was… confused and irrational. I didn’t know what to do, and before it even registered, I was saying all these _horrible_ things and I’m…so, so sorry.

 

“I want you to know that I would take back all of it, if it was possible. I regretted it as soon as you left my room and I hated myself for being like that. I understand why you’d be angry with me, or maybe even h-hate me.”

 

Tobio stumbled with his words, his face scrunching up like the idea of Shouyou hating him was physically painful. Shouyou deflated at hearing Tobio talk with such a miserable expression.

 

“I really hope you can forgive me one day,” Tobio said somberly. Shouyou watched him carefully, his mouth set in a straight line. If he were totally honest, Shouyou would’ve admitted that he felt a sort of relief after hearing what Tobio had to say. Knowing that he didn’t hate Shouyou was a comforting thought, and it would certainly make a second confession much easier. Shouyou racked his brain to find a response that would let him dig a little deeper.

 

“If you don’t hate me…” Shouyou began warily, “Can you tell me how you really feel about me?” Shouyou doubted that he’d answer such an invasive question. Just because Tobio had been extremely honest with him, didn’t mean he could push his luck too far. Even though Shouyou had this uncertainty, he couldn’t help but hope that he’d get some kind of reaction.

 

Tobio’s face flushed a brilliant red. He turned his head away quickly with an expression very similar to panic. Paired with his suddenly rigid stance, Tobio resembled an anxious bird, with all its feathers fluffed up in defense. Shouyou tilted his head curiously.

 

“Oh? What’s with this reaction, Tobio?” Shouyou couldn’t help but tease. Tobio looked like he just wanted to crouch down and disappear, but Shouyou wasn’t having any of it. “What do you want to say to me?”

 

Tobio cleared his throat nervously and very quietly announced, “I…like you.”

 

Shouyou thought his heart was practically going to stop beating at this point. His chest ached strangely, yet it didn’t feel awful. Shouyou almost wanted to burst into tears. However, he kept his emotions on the inside, lest he appear like an eager, ignorant puppy.

 

Shouyou kept a passive face as he spoke. “Why are you telling me this now?”

 

“Because…” Tobio thought about it seriously before responding, “Because I don’t want you to leave. Because… a thousand years down the road, ten thousand, a hundred thousand, I know I’ll regret it if I never told you how I felt.”

 

“I hope this isn’t you pitying me.” Shouyou chuckled, trying to lighten up the serious tone. If Tobio continued, Shouyou wasn’t sure what was going to happen to his heart.

 

“No.” Tobio said. “I’ve felt like this for a long time.”

 

“Then, w-why so suddenly?” Shouyou’s flush was getting deeper and deeper.

 

“I couldn’t say it before. I was too afraid.”

 

“Of what?”

 

Tobio shrugged like even he didn’t know the answer, “Of all these new feelings. Of giving a part of myself to another person and trusting them to take care of it.”

 

“Do you trust me?”

 

Tobio looked conflicted as he answered. “I want to learn.” Shouyou smiled softly.

 

“Fair enough.” Shouyou held onto Tobio’s upper arm a little tighter, carefully following in the other’s lead. The swaying music accompanied them as Shouyou thought about what to do from there.

 

“Shouyou, let me say one more thing,” Tobio said. “It’s going to sound selfish and stupid but please listen.” Shouyou blinked slowly and nodded.

 

Tobio took a deep breath, “I want to love you. And I want to be loved in return. Given the situation, I realize that this request is pretty pathetic, but I really mean it. I love you and I just hope that one day…you’ll love me again, too.”

 

“I never planned on stopping.”

 

The words were out of Shouyou’s mouth before he could register it himself. His cheeks went a shade darker with embarrassment as did Tobio’s, a darkening red that complemented his shell-shocked expression. Before another word could be exchanged, a bright, endearing smile blossomed on Tobio’s face like he had just witnessed the most beautiful person alive. Shouyou stared with astonishment, finding Tobio’s joy more dazzling than the most brilliant of stars.

 

Shouyou returned the smile with his own, big and genuine. It all seemed so surreal; Tobio loving him back was something Shouyou thought would always remain as an imaginative fairytale. But it was here, finally _here,_ and Shouyou felt relief, and happiness, and affection and so many emotions he could barely name. His body felt too small to hold so many feelings all at once and Shouyou was close to bursting.

 

“Thank you,” Tobio said, finding it extremely hard to stop grinning. And then it happened. The couple’s little bubble of euphoria burst as reality came back to them in the form of a misplaced step in the dance sequence, forcing the two to stumble out of formation – straight onto a lady’s silk train.

 

The lady cried out in surprise, making Shouyou and Tobio scream in varying levels of panic. In their effort to step off of the dress, Shouyou accidentally, instinctively pushed Tobio – to whom he was still holding on to – away and right onto the floor.

 

Shouyou, after a brief moment of confusion, burst out laughing. Perhaps it was because of all his pent-up feelings finally coming out, or because the circumstances really _were_ hilarious, Shouyou laughed and laughed until there were tears in his eyes and his stomach hurt. His chortling finally died down to gasping giggles and he was breathing hard to try and stop. His cheeks hurt as much as his stomach. Tobio glared and grumbled from where he was on the ground. When Shouyou’s laughing spell eventually came to an end, he turned to the woman whose dress they had just rudely violated.

 

“I’m so sorry! Is your dress okay?” Shouyou quickly asked. The woman nodded and looked at Tobio pouting on the sleek wooden floor. “My dress is fine. What about your friend?”

 

“No worries.” Shouyou shook off her concern nonchalantly, “Please, enjoy the rest of your evening.” The woman gently nodded and went on her way. Shouyou smiled widely.

 

“And what are you grinning about?” Tobio asked from his seat on the ground.

 

“I’m just really happy.” Shouyou chuckled. Tobio’s cheeks flushed an adorable pale pink.

 

“Come help me up.” Tobio held up a hand and beckoned Shouyou forward.

 

Shouyou grabbed it tightly, “You could at least say please.”

 

As Shouyou moved backwards to pull the taller one up, Tobio’s hand suddenly tightened and tugged, shifting Shouyou’s center of gravity. Shouyou yelped as he fell forward and Tobio leaned up to meet him halfway.

 

The kiss lasted barely a second, Tobio’s eyes closed in satisfaction and Shouyou’s wide open in blatant surprise. Shouyou didn’t even fully understand what was happening before Tobio pulled back (too soon) with a flushed face and a mischievous grin like he’d gotten away with something forbidden. “Please?”

 

Shouyou’s face flushed impossibly fast and impossibly red. His mind completely shut down and he dropped Tobio’s hand quickly, afraid he might accidentally burn him. Without thinking, Shouyou whipped around and speedily walked away, aware of only Tobio’s restrained laughter trailing further and further behind him, and his soft, mint-flavored lips. Shouyou bit his own lips to stop himself from smiling like an idiot.

 

* * *

 

“Are you done running away now?”

 

Shouyou tensed at the playful, teasing voice behind him and turned around slowly with a pout. “I wasn’t running away.”

 

Tobio stood with his hands on his hips and his head tilted in disbelief. He smirked, “Oh, really?”

 

“Wipe that grin off your face,” Shouyou said with a slight chuckle, “You just surprised me, that's all.”

 

“Yeah, I know.” Tobio sauntered closer with a sly smile. “So? Give me some feedback.” Shouyou looked away. “Did you like it?”

 

The redness was coming back to Shouyou’s cheeks as he pointedly glanced elsewhere, “Not saying.”

 

“What a bully.” Tobio drawled. “Don’t worry, though, I can tell from just your face.”

 

“Tobio, you want something to eat?” Shouyou asked. Tobio laughed at Shouyou’s flawless execution of changing the topic and replied, “What do you want to have?”

 

“Meat. I want to eat meat.” Shouyou immediately requested.

 

“Ah, good choice. I want some, too.” Tobio hooked an arm around Shouyou’s waist and led the way, trying not to laugh at Shouyou’s panic-stricken face. “Have I told you that you look amazing tonight?”

 

The remark caught Shouyou off-guard, but his eyes hardened with determination; he was not to be outdone. “Well, you dressed up pretty nice yourself.”

 

Tobio smiled, overjoyed at the small compliment. _So cute_.

 

As they walked, Shouyou looked up at Tobio. Even though the smile on his face was small, and his gait no different than usual, his aura of happiness was practically tangible. Anybody looking his way would’ve guessed that something good happened.

 

“I’ve been wondering for a little bit. Did you plan this whole event so you could confess to me?” Shouyou asked.

 

Tobio laughed nervously at the directness of the question. “I’d say yes, but I can’t take credit for planning it. I got help from my dad.“

 

“He did it for you?”

 

“Well, he helped with the invitations. Since, besides you, I don’t really have anyone else to invite…” Shouyou’s cheeky laughter made Tobio’s ears go pink.

 

“I should introduce you to some people. I’m sure everyone would love to meet you.” Shouyou smiled encouragingly.

 

“Like who?”

 

“Well, first off, you should start by making friends with Kei. You’ll most likely be seeing each other more often, now.”

 

Tobio groaned. “So this is the price I have to pay to be with the person I like?”

 

Shouyou shrugged, his face lighting up with a big smile, “Fate is pretty strange, isn’t it?”

 

Tobio gaped, “Are you insulting Fate?”

 

“You get what I mean, don’t tease me.”

 

“Too late to back out now.”

 

Shouyou grinned smugly, “Good for you, huh? ‘Cause I’m not going anywhere.”

 

“…Can I kiss you again?”

 

“Tobio!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that officially marks the end of this story! Huge thanks to everyone who’s supported me throughout this whole process. I know it took quite long, but it’s the first time I’ve ever finished writing a multi-chap fic (trust me, I’ve started a lot of incomplete ones) and I thoroughly enjoyed writing this. I appreciate all the kudos and comments (I may not respond to them all, but I do read all of them and they make my day), and I’m happy just knowing that you guys enjoy reading my work. 
> 
> I’ve decided that there WILL be an epilogue, but as of now this story is gonna be marked as COMPLETE (ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ


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